THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


HENRY   JENKINS, 

Bora  in  England  tn  the  year  1501,  died  in  1670 
aged  169  years. 


LECTf'HJiS 


ON   THE 


USES  OF  THE  LUIGS; 

AND  CAUSES,  PREVENTION,  AND  CURE  OF 

PULMONARY  CONSUMPTION,  ASTHMA,  AND 
DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART  ; 

ON   THE  LAWS  OF   LONGEVITY; 


AND    ON   TUB 


MODE  OF  PRESERVING  MALE  AND  FEMALE  HEALTH 
TO  AN  HUNDRED  YEARS. 


•WITH:  20  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BY  SAMUEL  SHELDON  FITCH,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 


"  I  yet  may  walk,  as  it  appears  to  me,  the  rosy  paths  of  life ;  and  the  energy  and 
action  that  were  once  in  these  limbs,  may  again  be  mine.  If  so,  1  shall  give  ^honor  to 
whom  honor  is  due  ;'  and  if  contrary  to  this,  the  earth  should  soon  close  over  me,  to  the 
last  moment  of  my  life  should  I  be  satisfied  that  this  is  the  way,  and  the  only  true  way,  to 
cure  consumption."— Extract  from  Henry  Peck's  letter  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 


NEW- YORK: 
H.  CARLISLE,  707  BROADWAY. 

1850. 


£ 


Entered  according  to  an  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1846, 

BY  J.  P.  WEIGHT, 
Io  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


LECTURE  FIRST. 
On  the  Uses  of  the  Lungs,  and  Causes  of  Consumption. 

LECTURE  SECOND. 
On  the  Prevention  and  Cure  of  Consumption. 

LECTURE  THIRD. 

On  the  Proofs  of  the  Cure  of  Consumption, 

LECTURE  FOURTH.— TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

On  the  mode  of  forming,  a  Jine  Chest,  a  Jine  erect  Carriage,  and 
Walk. —  On  the  manner  of  procuring  a  dear  and  beautiful  Cotn- 
plexion,  without  art. —  On  the  causes  of  Lung,  Liver,  and  Sfom- 
ach  Diseases,  in  Ladies,  and  on  the  Cause  of  Female  Diseases, 
with  their  prevention  and  cure  ;  and  finally,  on  the  best  mode  of 
obtaining  perfect  Symmetry  of  Figure,  and  of  forming  and  fortify- 
ing t/ie  Female  Constitution,  so  as  to  preserve  Health  and  Beauty 
to  Ike  latest  attainable  periods  of  Life. 

LECTURE  FIFTH.— TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

On  Symmetry  of  the  Internal  Organs  of  the  Body,  and  on  Sym- 
metry of  Mind,  as  preventing"  Pulmonary  Consumption,  and 
ensuring  Long  Life. 

LECTURE  SIXTH.— TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

On  the  mode  of  forming  a  noble,  manly  Chest,  and  Jine  erect  Car- 
riage.—  On  the  best  manner  of  preventing  Decline  of  Animal 
Strength  and  of  invigorating  the  Male  Constitution,  so  as  to  pre- 
serve Health  and  Life  to  an  hundred  years. 


TABLE  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Head  of  Henry  Jenkins,  (fronts  title  page.) 

A — Three  views  of  the  human  skeleton p.  21 

13— View  of  the  skeleton  of  the  trunk  of  the  body 22 

C— View  of  the  windpipe,  lungs,  heart,  midriff,  stomach,  liver, 

gall  bladder,  large  bowels,  small  bowels 24 

D — View  of  the  windpipe,  lungs,  air-pipes,  and  air-cells,  heart, 

and  midriff 25 

E — View  of  windpipe,  gullet,  and  natural  belts  that  form  the  walls 

of  the  abdomen 26 

F — Consumptive  ai\d  non-consumptive  figures 63 

G—  Inhaling  tube ..:.... 93 

H — Asthmatic  chest 69 

\ — Consumptive  chest ib. 

Flora-  Thompson,  at  150  years 166 

I — View  of  shoulder-braces 176 

LV — Stooping  female  figure 182 

L — Front,  view  of  the  abdominal  supporter 238 

M — Back  view  of  do.  do ib. 

N — View  of  the  figure  and  inside  of  the  stomach 190 

*O — Side  view  of  the  midriff,  stomach,  large  and  small  bowels, 

bladder,  and  womb. . . .: 217 

*P — Same  parts  fallen  down ib. 

(I — View  of  the  liver  and  gall  bladder 194 

II— Falling  bowels 305 

S — View  of  the  midriff  kidneys,  ureters  or  water-pipes,  large 

bowel,  bladder,  and  womb 252 

Figure  of  Henry  Francisco,  at  134  years    254 

T — Injurious  position  for  the  chest 264 

1.'  — Partial  view  of  the  brain,  spinal  marrow,  and  large  nerves 

that  go  between  the  ribs  and  so  to  the  arms  and  lower  limbs. .  295 
V — Heart  and  blood- vessels 315 

"  Plates  O  nnd  P  were  drawn  or  composed  originally,  T  believe,  by  Dr.  Banning,  who  de- 
aervpis  a  hiirh  place  anionir  medical  benefactors  for  his  unwearied  efforts,  both  by  his  writ- 
ings and  eloquent  lecture*?  fo  diffuse  a  general  knowledge  of  the  frequent  and  injurious 
cncea  ol  falling  bowela 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction p.  13 

Dr.  Luther  Brigham  to  Amos  Binney,  Esq 15 

Dr.  Benjamin  H.  West,  M.  D.  to  I)r.  Gardner ib. 

Dr.  Hubbard  Graves,  M.  D.  to  Dr.  Wm.  Buck,  M.  D 16 

Dr.  Richard  G.  Belt,  M.  D.  to  Hon.  Upton  Heath,  U.  S.  District 

Judge  of  Baltimore,  Md ib. 

John  Wilder,  Esq.  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch 17 

R.  R.  Hinman,  Esq.  to  Professor  Kingsley,  Yale  College ,  ib. 


LECTURE  FIRST. 

Uses  of  the  lungs,  and  causes  of  consumption 19 

Four  great  chambers  in  the  human  frame 22 

Skull 24 

Chest ib. 

Left  lung  smaller  than  the  right ib. 

Impossible  to  contract  consumption  when  the  air  passes  in  and 

out  of  each  air-cell 25 

Consumption  is  caused  by  general  or  partial  closing  of  the  air- 
cells 26 

Consumption  a  most  curable  disease ib. 

Grand  uses  of  the  lungs 28 

Uses  illustrated 29 

Pure  air  food  of  the  lungs 33 

No  books  teach  the  true  uses  of  the  lungs 36 

American  Indians  in  native  state  do  not  have  consumption  ....  37 

Consumption  a  child  of  civilization ib. 

Causes   of  consumption 38 

Mechanical  causes ' ib. 

Falling  of  the  bowels 42 

Effeminacy  and  debility  cause  consumption 44 

Hope  antagonises  the  spread  of  consumption —  46 

Diseases  of  the.  throat 50 

Too  much  clothing  to  be  avoided 51 

Influence  of  climate  on  consumption 55 

Catarrh 56 

Hereditary  consumption 57 

Spinal  diseases 58 

Pain  in  the  side,  kidney  affection,  gravel 59 

Injurious  medicines — mercury,  opium,  emetics,  blisters,  and  emetic 

tartar  sores 61 


V1U  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  SECOND. 

Prevention  and  cure  of  consumption p.  64 

Diseases  that  cure  consumption * . . .     ibv 

Diseases  of  the  heaf  t 65 

Asthma  cures  consumption 69 

Swelled  tonsils  prevent  consumption , 71 

Common  cold  cures  consumption 73 

Prevention  of  hereditary  consumption 76 

Plain  bringing  up  of  children 78 

Effects  of  cheerfulness  and  exercise  to  prevent  consumption 81 

Climate  and  light  to  prevent  consumption 84 

Sea  voyages,  diet,  regular  sleep 87 

Never  neglect  a  cold 88 

Cold  bathing,  inhaling  tube,  braces,  supporter 89 

Cure  of  pulmonary  consumption 91 

Inhaling  tube,  how  it  acts 93-94 

Inhaling  tube  alone  will  not  cure  consumption 97 

How  we  know  one  has  consumption 98 

Treatment  to  cure  consumption 100 

Bleeding,  counter-irritation 101-2 

Diet,  air.  and  changes  of  air 103-4 

Effects  of  journeys,  sea  voyages,  warm  climate 105-6 

Respirators — bad  effects,  when  may  be  used 107 

Under  what  condition  of  the  lungs  may  we  hope  for  a  cure  of 

consumption ib. 

First  group,  second  group,  of  curables 108 

Third  group  curable 109 

Fourth  group,  fifth  group 109-10 

Asthma,  causes  and  cure r\  111 

Heart  .diseases,  causes  and  cure 113 

Mineral,  iron  and  sulphur  waters ; . . .  117-18 

Red  Sulphur  Springs  in  Virginia 117 

Hot  mineral  waters 119 


LECTURE  THIRD. 

Truth,  but  one  offspring 122 

Asthma,  Case  I.  Thomas  Fengar 125 

Spasmodic  asthma,  Case  II.  Miss  Little 126 

Mrs.  Fernald,  Case  III 127 

Consumption — 

Case       I.  Dr.  Parker 12£ 

«        II.  Miss  Hawley 130 

«      III.  Mrs.  H.  Gardner 132 

«       IV.  Mr.  A.  E.  Phillips 133 

«        V.  Rev.  L.  D.  Barrow 134 


CONTENTS.  Df 

Consumption — 

Case    VI.  Mrs   Uuntmgton p.  136 

"      Vii.  Mrs   Eiurlburt 138 

«    Vlll.  Mr.  W   R.  Ames 139 

«       IX.  Mr.  Mahlon  Schenck 141 

«        X.  Miss  S-ars ib. 

«      XI.  Mr.  Geo.  H.Moore 142 

«     XII.  Miss  Jan-,  Tyler 143 

"  XIII.  Mrs.  Whi  tier 144 

«   XIV.  Master  G&\  W.  Roberts 146 

«    XV.  Miss  Brown 148 

c   XVI.  Rev.  Mr.  Livrsey ib. 

<XVII.  Miss  Ward 151 

'  XVHI.Mr.  Thaddeus  Barnes 154 

{  XIX.  MissAngell   156 

XX.  Miss  Nickerson 157 

XXI.  Mr.  John  Thompson...: 159 

«XX1I.  Mr.  Alfred  M.  Beck 161 


LECTURE  FOURTH— TO  LADIES  o*uv 

Instances  of  longevity 168 

Female  life  should  average  100  years,  instead  of  30 169 

Influence  of  female  beauty  on  man ib. 

Health  and  beauty  intimately  connected 170 

Symmetry  of  person,  the  foundation  of  all  health  and  beauty. .   172 

Shoulder  supporters 175 

To  form  a  fine  beautiful  chest 179 

Habitual  stooping  to  be  avoided 182 

Position  of  the  chest  in  walking 184 

Standing  on  one  foot 186 

How  to  form  a  clear  and  beautiful  complexion 187 

The  teeth ib. 

Digestion 189 

Dyspepsia 191 

Articles  of  diet  that  injure  the  complexion 193 

Bad  breath 194 

Costiveness,  its  effects,  how  to  correct 195-6 

Kidney  evacuations 197 

Periods  suppressed — painful — termination  of. 197-8-9 

Clothing,  its  effects,  &c. — rules  for 202 

Effects  of  washing  all  over  with  cold  water. 203 

To  keep  the  feet  in  perfect  health 207 

Air  and  exercise 208 

Grand  arts  of  the  toilet  among  the  princely  and  noble  families  of 
Europe 210 

1* 


X  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  FIFTH— TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

Basket  of  the  hips p.  214 

Symmetry  of  the  internal  organs  of  the  body 216 

Falling  r>;'  the  bowels — 

Ellec.ts  on  the  lungs '. 218 

Effects  on  the  voice 220 

E Herts  on  the  heart,  palpitation  of. ib. 

Sinking,  all  gone  at  the  stomach 221 

Chronic  diarrhoea — costiveness 222 

Liver  complaint ib. 

Pain  in  side,  and  breast,  back,  and  spine 223 

Gravel ." 224 

Piles 226 

Pains  in  the  limbs 227 

Swelling  of  the  limbs  and  veins 228 

Incontinence  of  urine 229 

Falling  of  the  womb 230 

Effects  of  dislocation  of  the  womb 231-2-3 

Fluor  albus 234 

Barrenness 235 

M  iscarriages ib, 

Floodings 236 

Abdominal  supporters 237 

What  a  supporter  should  do -. 239 

When  abdominal  support  should  be  used 241 

Symmetry  of  mind  essential  to  health 242 

Case  of  Mrs.  Kingsley 243 

Case  of  Mrs.  Rowland 244 

Case  of  M  rs.  Mary  F.  Gardiner 245 

Case  of  Miss  Beedom 247 

Letter  from  Mrs.  Gibbs ib. 

From  Mr.  Fayerweather 248 

From  Mrs.  Taber 249 

From  Mrs.  Smith ib. 

From  Miss  Mary  Nutter 250 

From  M  iss  Wald  ron ib. 

Questions  to  invalid  ladies 253 


LECTURE  SIXTH— TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

Cases  of  long-lived  men 258 

Grand  di visions  of  the  human  frame 260 

Manner  of  forming  a  fine  chest 261 

Proper  carriage  and  position  of  the  chest 263 

"fWl  effects  of  vicious  position  of  the  chest 265 

Potion  of  tne  shoulders 267 

Remedy  ibr  round  shoulders 26b 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Shoulder-braces p.  269 

How  shoulder-braces  should  be  made,  and  by  whom  worn 270-1 

Man  is  intended  to  stand  perfectly  strait. 273 

Fine  figures  of  savages ib. 

Premature  old  age 274 

Position  in  bed 275 

Self-reparation  of.  the  body 276 

The  stomach 277 

Progress  of  food  after  leaving  the  stomach 279 

Small  and  large  bowels,  costiveness 280 

Bad  effects  of  costiveness 281 

Depression  of  spirits 283 

Jaundice,  piles ib. 

Manner  of  curing  costiveness 285 

Office  of  the  kidneys  and  bladder 287 

Skin  and  its  offices 289 

Bathing 290 

Sponge  bath,  sea  water 292 

Effects  of  water  upon  weak  eyes 293 

Upon  sore  throat 294 

Upon  weak  and  painful  spine ib. 

Bad  effects  of  artificial  irritation  over  the  spine 296 

Rheumatism 297 

Treatment  of  the  feet 298 

Diet,  not  change  too  suddenly 299 

Exercise 301 

Animal  gratifications w 302 

Symmetry  of  the  internal  organs  of  the  body 303 

Effect  of  a  rupture 304 

Of  weakness  of  the  abdominal  belts 305 

Of  bleeding  at  the  Langs 306 

Loss  of  voice,  wheezing,  palpitation 307-8 

Breaking  of  the  liver,  and  of  the  bowels 309 

Piles 310 

Gravel 311 

Pain  in  the  back,  limbs,  &c 312 

Swelling  of  the  limbs  and  veins ib. 

.  Sleep,  and  beds ". 314 

Frame  destroyed  by  seeking  to  do  too  much  at  a  time 316 

The  vices  shorten  life 317 

The  virtues  lengthen  life 315 

Case  of  a  cure  of  piles , 321 

Management  of  scrofula ib. 

Kelita  B.  Townley  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch 322-4 


QUESTIONS  TO  INVA4ID  GENTLEMEN. 

As  '.I  has  been  my  happiness  often  to  cure  invalids  I  have  never  seen,  but 
lean?  id  their  case  from  friends,  or  by  letters,  I  give  some  questions,  which 
may  be  carefully  answered,  such  as  may  concern  your  case.  It  will  be  pre- 
sumed the  others  do  not  trouble  you.  A  prompt  answer  will  be  returned, 
mating  remedies  required,  and  cost.  No  notice  of  a  first  letter  not  post-paid. 
$o  charge  for  advice  by  letter. 

Address  DR.  SAMUEL  S.  FITCH,  No.  707  Broadway,  New-York. 


What  is  your  name,  age,  occupation,  or  profession  1  Residence,  so  a  letter 
may  reach  you  1  Where  born  and  brought  up  7  Delicate  or  good  consti- 
tution'? Height?  Slender  or  broad  figure?  Fleshy  or  lean  1  Person  erect 
or  stooping  ?  Chest  full  and  strait,  or  stooping  and  contracted  7  Constitution 
delicate  or  robust  1  What  is  your  measure  around  the  waist,  just  above  the 
hips?  What  is  the  color  of  your  hair,  whiskers,  eyes,  and  complexion? 
To  what  diseases  are  your  family  subject?  Any  died  of  asthma,  scrofula, 
heart-disease,  or  consumption  ?  Are  you  subject  to  asthma  or  short-breathing  ? 
— any  humor,  scrofula,  salt  rheum,  or  skin  diseases  ? — any  head-ache,  or  pain 
in  the  chest,  neck,  spine,  shoulders,  back,  stomach,  bowels,  sides,  or  limbs? 
— any  sore  throat,  swelled  tonsils,  heat  or  dryness  in  the  throat,  weak  voicef 
loss  of  voice,  hoarseness,  catarrh  in  head,  nose,  or  throat.  Any  cough  ? — 
how  long  had  it?  Do  you  cough  up  anything? — how  much? — what  kind, 
&c.  ?  When  cough  most  ? — and  when  raise  most  ?  Ever  raise  blood  ? — how 
many  times ?— how  much ?  On  which  side  lay  best,  if  either?  On  full- 
breathing,  do  your  ribs* rise  equally  all  over  your  chest,  or  do  the  ribs  rise 
better  on  one  side  or  part  than  another?  Have  you  daily  chills,  or  fever,  or 
night-sweats,  short  breathing,  or  asthma  ?  Are  you  confined  to  your  bed,  or 
room,  or  the  house,  or  do  you  go  out  daily?  Any  palpitation,  or  distress  at 
the  heart,  or  stoppage  of  circulation  ?  Are  you  nervous,  or  paralytic,  or  have 
fits  ?  Any  bad  dreams,  and  their  effects  ?  Any  dyspepsia,  sour  stomach,  or 
distress,  or  pressure  at  the  stomach,  after  eating,  or  ever  sick  stomach  to  vomit, 
or  food  rise  after  eating  ?  Ever  any  sinking,  exhausted,  all-gone  feeling  at 
top  of  chest,  or  pit  of  stomach,  or  in  the  stomach,  or  sides,  or  bowels,  or  across 
the  bowels?  Appetite  good,  bud,  or  capricious?  Bowels  regular,  costive, 
or  diarrhoea  ?  Any  external,  or  bleeding,  or  blind  piles  ?  Weak  back  ?  Have  , 
a  rupture?  Suspect  having  worms?  What  kind?  Any  gravel  or  kidney 
complaints  ?  Water  stoppage,  or  free  settlings,  scanty  or  scalding,  or  too 
much  ?  Any  heat  in  your  back  or  any  part  ?  Cold  or  burning  feet  ?  Bloating 
anywhere  ?  Much  wind  in  stomach  or  bowels  ?  Pains  in  your  limbs  ?  Rheu- 
matism or  neuralgia  ?  Any  deformity  ?  Ever  any  wounds  ?  Long  fevers  ? 
Took  much  medicin«»  or  mercury?  Fever  sores?  Billious?  Clear  com- 
plexion ?  Wh".'.  done  for  these  complaints  ?  How  long  ?  Are  you  marrjed 
or  single  1  Can  you  read  aloud,  or  talk  long,  or  walk  actively,  or  do  your 
wen*!:,  without  unusual  fatigue?  In  indigent  or  easy  circumstances?  Do 
you  work  hard,  or  take  active  exercise,  or  the  reverse  ?  Dropsy  or  cancer  ? 
Have  you  good  teeth  ? 

$3r  No  letter  »hould  exceed  three  pages. 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  Author  of  the  following  Lectures,  besides  lecturing  in 
England,  has  had  an  opportunity  of  addressing  about  "fifty  thou- 
sand persons  in  the  United  States,  and  thus  of  personally  present- 
ing and  enforcing  his  views  by  direct  examples  and  prompt 
practical  results  and  demonstrations.  In  1827,  whilst  a-student 
of  Medicine  in  Philadelphia,  he  discovered  the  grand  uses  of 
the  Lungs,  and  thereby  laid  the  foundation  of  a  scientific,  ra- 
tional, and  certain  method  of  elucidating  and  treating  their  dis- 
eases. For  twenty  years,  with  some  interruptions,  diseases  of 
the  Chest  have  been  his  study.  To  notice  the  effects  of  climate 
as  a  curative  or  preventive  agent,  he  has  visited  twenty-three 
States  of  the  American  Union  ;  also  England,  Scotland,  Ireland, 
Holland,  Belgium,  France,  Italy  ;  the  northern  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  Switzerland,  Sardinia,  and  Savoy ;  several 
watering  places  of  Germany,  Prussia,  the  West-India  Islands, 
the  Canadas,  &,c.  &,c. — seeking  everywhere  for  knowledge  and 
light  on  the  diseases  of  the  Lungs,  making  himself  eve- y where 
as  fully  acquainted  as  possible  with  the  peculiarities  of  each 
locality,  both  in  the  nature  and  prevalence  of  consumption,  as 
well  as  the  peculiar  methods  adopted  for  its  prevention  and 
cure  by  the  highest  professors  and  teachers  of  Europe  and  this 
country ;  as  well  as  by  the  untutored  Savages  of  this  continent, 


14  INTRODUCTION. 


who  are  well  known  to  treat  many  diseases,  and  especially 
those  of  the  Lungs,  with  great  success.  To  facilitate  his  re- 
searches,- he  has  lectured  at  many  different  points  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Ocean,  on  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes,  in  many 
of  the  great  Valleys,  and  on  the  Highlands  of  this  country,  as  f 
well  north  as  south  \  everywhere  collecting  most  valuable  and  . 
interesting  materials  for  a  very  extensive  work  upon  the  dis- 
eases of  the  Chest  and  Lungs.  He  hopes  ere  long  to  finish 
his  researches,  and  then  complete  his  'great  work  upon  dis- 
eases of  the  Lungs,  which  he  flatters  himself  wrill  become  for 
Physicians  a  guide  to  a  successful  treatment  of  Pulmonary  dis- 
eases. These  Lectures  are  intended  as  a  Director  to  all  classes 
in  the  prevention  and  cure  of  Consumption.  Those  who  fol- 
low their  directions,  will  not,  I  think,  be  disappointed,  but  will 
each  day  realize  their  truth  by  the  most  gratifying  personal 
benefits. 

The  writer's  experience  is  derived  from  an  observation  of 
more  than  five  thousand  cases  within  the  last  three  years,  be- 
sides all  his  previous  practice. 

To  render  the  Lectures  effective  upon  the  reader,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  perfect  confidence  should  be  placed  in  the  state 
ments  and  conclusions.  Great  truths  are  taught,  which,  if  fully 
understood,  implicitly  believed,  and  judiciously  followed, 
would  lead  to  an  almost  total  annihilation  of  Pulmonary  Con- 
sumption. 

To  obtain  a  snare  of  this  confidence,  a  few  letters  are  sub- 
joined from  men  of  undoubted  respectability  and  integrity ; 
some  who  have  known  the  writer  for  many  years,  even  from 
childhood  ;  others  who  have  had  a  thorough  opportunity  ot 
noticing  his  practice,  and  its  gratifying  results. 


LETTERS,  ETC 


From  Dr.  Luther  Brigham  to  Amos  Binney,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 

Lowell,  January  4,  1844. 
AMOS  BINNEY,  ESQ. 

Respected  Sir, — Allow  me  to  introduce  to  your  friendly  notice,  Dr. 
S.  S.  Fitch,  of  Philadelphia.  I  have  known  Dr.  Fitch  from  his  child- 
hood. His  grandfather,  Dr.  Ebenezer  Fitch,  of  Connecticut,  and  his 
father,  Dr.  Chauncy  Fitch,  were  ce^L:a'ed  Physicians.  Dr.  Ebenezer 
Fitch,  so  long  President  of  Williams'  College,  was  his  uncle. 

Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch,  the  bearer  of  this,  is  justly  celebrated  for  his  re- 
searches in  the  uses  of  the  Lungs,  and  the  nature  and  treatment  of  Pul- 
monary Consumption.  I  think  his  opinion  and  advice  on  those  subjects 
of  great  value.  His  patients  in  this  place  speak  of  him  in  the  highest 
terms.  Any  favors  you  can  render  Dr.  Fitch,  will  be  highly  appreciated 
by  his  numerous  friends,  and  by  none  more  highly  than  by  your  old  friend 
and  humble  servant, 

LUTHER  BRIGHAM. 


Extract  of  a  letter  from  Dr.  Benj.  West,  M.  D.,  to  Dr.  Gardner,  of  Providence, 
Rhode  Island. 

Nantucket,  May  18,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  FRIEND  : 

Permit  me  the  pleasure  to  introduce  to  you  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch,  of  Phila- 
delphia, a  gentleman  who  has  been  lecturing  here  on  Consumption ;  one 
who  is  acquainted  to  a  surprising  extent  with  the  subject  in  its  most  im 
portant  bearings  ;  and  who,  by  his  disinterested  actions,  has  shown  him 
self  entitled  to  the  rqspect  and  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  may  be 
brought  into  contact. 

I  bespeak  for  the  Dr.  your  hospitalities  and  friendship. 

Your  Friend, 

BENJ.  H.  WEST. 


16  LETTERS,  ETC. 


Copy  of  a  letter  from  Hubbard  Graves,  M.  D.,  to  Dr.  Wm.  D.  Buck,  M.  D.,  of 
Concord,  New  Hampshire. 

Nashville,  N.  H.,  Oct.  20,  1843. 
Mr  DEAR  SIB: 

Allow  me  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  my  friend  Dr.  Fitch,  ot 
Philadelphia,  who  has  recently  delivered  some  lectures  on  Consumption, 
its  causes  and  cure,  in  this  place.  On  my  announcing  his  subject,  the 
idea  of  quackery  may  possibly  strike  you,  but  there  you  will  be  most 
agreeably  disappointed.  Dr.  Fitch  regularly  studied  his  profession,  both 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe;  and  you  will  find  him  a  man  of  strictly 
philosophical  mind,  who  has  thoroughly  examined  the  theory  which  he 
advances. 

His  ideas  are  not  crude  and  confused,  as  those  of  quack  lecturers  in- 
variably are.  You  will  find  that  they  are  clearly  arranged,  and  that  all 
his  conclusions  have  been  logically  deduced.  In  fact,  from  what  I  have 
seen  of  Dr.  Fitch,  I  am  satisfied  you  will  deem  his  acquaintance  in  the 
highest  sense  agreeable. 

1  am,  dear  sir,  yours  with  much  esteem, 

J.  HUBBARD  GRAVES. 


Copy  of  a  letter  to  the  lion.  Upton  S.  Heath,  Esq.,  United  States  District  Judge 
in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  from  Richard  G.  Belt,  M.  D. 

Fall  River,  Mass.,  Aug.  2,  1845. 
DEAR  SIR: 

Allow  me  to  introduce  my  friend  Dr.  Fitch,  of  Philadelphia,  to  youi 
acquaintance.  The  Doctor  has  spent  several  weeks  in  this  place,  and 
delivered  a  most  interesting  course  of  lectures,  which  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  hearing,  upon  the  origin  and  cure  of  Consumption,  and  all  the  diseases 
oi  the  chest.  The  Doctor  has  effected  many  extraordinary  cures  in  this 
section  of  the  country,  and  in  the  city  of  Boston,  of  Consumption,  after 
all  other  means  had  totally  failed ;  of  which  he  carr  produce  the  most  sa- 
tisfactory te:timony.  The  Dr.  has  been  laboring  for  eighteen  years  upon 
this  most  fatal  disease  ;  about  five  years  of  which  were  spent  in  Europe  vis- 
iting the  largest  and  most  prominent  Medical  Institutions.  I  take  plea- 
sure in  recommending  the  Doctor  to  any  of  my  Baltimore  friends,  and 


LETTERS,  ETC.  17 


believe  lie  may  be  the  instrument  of  restoring  many  to  health  who  are 
now  without  hope.  Any  attentions  to  him  will  be  gratefully  acknow- 
ledged by  Yours  truly, 

RICHARD  G.  BELT. 


Copy  of  a  letter  from  John  Wilder,  Esq.,  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

Rhode  Island,  July,  1845. 
DOCT.  S.  S.  FITCH, 

Dear  Sir: — Having  buried  my  wife  and  a  daughter  some  years 
since,  who  died  of  that  dreaded  and  heretofore  considered-incurable  dis- 
ease, Pulmonary  Consumption,  which  is,  and  has  been  for  many  years, 
making  fatal  ravages  in  our  land,  and  cutting  down  multitudes  of  the 
fairest  and  loveliest  of  the  human  family,  has  awakened  in  my  bosom  the 
tenderest  sympathy  for,  and  the  deepest  interest  in,  the  welfare  of  those 
who  are  smitten  with  this  complaint,  and  has  induced  me  to  watch  atten- 
tively the  cases  of  many  of  my  friends  who  placed  themselves  under  your 
care;  those  too  whose  cases  were  considered  hopeless,  and  have  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  them  restored  to  health  under  your  manage- 
ment. 

I  beg  you  will  not  for  a  moment  consider  this  as  flattery,  but  receive  it 
as  the  honest  expression  of  my  confidence  in  your  mode  of  treating  this 
disease. 

Yours  truly,  . 

JOHN  WILDER, 


Copy  of  a  letter  from  R.  R.  Hinman,  Esq.,  late  Secretary  of  State  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  to  Professor  Kingsly  of  Yale  College. 

Hartford,  October  17th,  1844. 
PROFESSOR  KINGSLY 

My  dear  Sir  : — As  Dock  Samuel  S.  Fitch,  of  Philadelphia,  is  about 
to  visit  New  Haven,  upon  the  duties  of  his  profession,  1  take- the  liberty 
of  saying,  that  I  have  had  a  personal  acquaintance  with  him  more  than 
twenty  years ;  that  he  sustains  an  estimable  moral  character,  that  he  is 
not  only  a  regularly  educated  physician,  but  that  he  has  been  eminently 


18  LETTERS,  ETC. 


successful  in  that  branch  of  his  profession  which  he  has  particularly  pur- 
sued for  many  years  past.  His  travels  in  Europe  at  different  periods  of 
his  life,  and  particularly  his  long  residence  in  London,  has  afforded  him  a 
fine  opportunity  to  examine  the  many  cases  of  consumption  with  which 
he  has  met  in  all  climates  and  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  You  can 
rely  upon  him  as  a  gentleman  of  strict  honor,  skilful  in  his  profession, 
and  every  way  worthy  of  the  patronage  of  the  public. 

Yours, 

R.   R.   HlNMAN. 


LECTURES. 


LECTURE   FIRST, 

USES  OF  THE   LUNGS  AND  CAUSES  OF   CONSUMPTION, 

LADIES   AND   GENTLEMEN: 

WE  live  in  an  age  remarkable  for  its  vast  discoveries, 
for  its  most  wonderful  developments  in  knowledge:  develop- 
ments which  are  giving  us  great  control  over  the  material 
world,  annihilating  time  and  space.  At  one  moment,  discove- 
ries obtrude  upon  our  notice  in  a  gentle  light ;  at  another,  they 
burst  forth  with  the  most  brilliant  meteoric  glare,  dazzling  us 
with  their  splendor  and  awakening  the  most  profound  and  awe- 
struck anticipations  of  the  future.  Even  now,  so  much  more 
can  we  achieve  than  we  could  have  done  fifty  years  ago,  that 
life  seems  almost  to  have  doubled  its  value  in  that  period. 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  could  a  person  have  been  thrown 
to  sleep,  and  have  continued  in  that  state  fifty  years,  on  awak- 
«~ning  and  returning  to  the  schools,  he  would  have  found  the  same 
books,  the  same  modes  of  teaching,  the  same  elements  of 
thought,  perhaps  without  a  single  change.  Now,  let  a  person 
remain  in  seclusion  for  no  more  than  five  years :  on  returning, 
he  would  notice  many  changes  in  the  arts,  and  in  all  the  active 
developments  of  human  knowledge. 

As  an  example :  about  ten  years  ago,  a  celebrated  oculist 
was  accused  of  having  said  that,  by  cutting  a  few  fibres  of  the 
muscles  of  the  eye,  cross-eyes,  or  strabismus,  might  be  cured. 


20  LECTURE  ON  THE 


He,  in  the  public  papers,  declared  this  to  be  a  libel ;  that  he 
had  never  made  such  an  assertion  ;  considering  it  the  height  of 
absurdity.  Within  a  few  years  after,  this  operation  was  adopt 
ed  all  over  the  civilized  world. 

Perhaps  very  few  persons  are  aware,  or  suspect,  whither  all 
these  improvements  tend,  or  what  is  to  be  the  final  result.  J 
answer,  they  are  all  building  up  a  science  that  now  has  no- 
even  a  name.  It  is  now  like  an  open  square  in  t'he  centre  of 
a  great  city,  to  which  all  the  ways  tend,  but  itself  is  only  open 
space.  This  science  is  the  science  of  Longevity — the  science 
that  tends  to  perpetuate  human  life,  and  make  all  reach  the 
limits  of  its  utmost  duration.  It  is  even  now  known  that  the 
duration  of  human  life  among  civilized  nations,  is  in  the  exact 
ratio  of  their  increase  in  knowledge.  In  those  countries  where 
knowledge  is  on  the  increase,  in  that  ratio  does  the  duration  of 
life  increase  among  that  people.  For  example :  In  1760,  the 
deaths  in  London  were  one  in  twenty-one  of  the  inhabitants. 
In  1820,  the  deaths  were  one  in  forty-one  ;  life  having  nearly 
doubled  its  duration  in  eighty  years.  At  that  same  period, 
deaths  in  Paris  were  one  in  seventeen  ;  now  they  are  one  in 
thi,ty-two.  This  knowledge  must  increase  among  the  people, 
as  at  this  time,  in  old  ancient  Rome,  the  deaths  are  one  in  twen- 
ty-five ;  and  in  the  polite  city  of  Vienna,  the  deaths  are  one  in 
twenty-two.  The  physicians  of  Rome  and  Vienna,  are  fully  as 
good  authority  in  medicine  as  those  of  London  or  Paris  ;  but 
the  mass  of  their  population  are  remarkable  for  gross  ignorance. 
Knowledge  to  each  individual  is  almost  a  palladium  to  his  ex- 
istence. You  all  know  to  what  vast  reputation  some  physicians 
will  attain  in  large  cities.  This  is  owing  in  part  to  the  high 
intelligence  of  their  patients,  whose  sagacity  and  knowledge 
give  almost  double  efficacy  to  medical  remedies. 

Correct  knowledge  to  each  individual  in  society,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  health,  is  what  is  required.  It  is  this  which  is  my  apo- 
logy for  calling  multitudes  together  to  lecture  to  them  on  the 
principles  of  health  and  the  causes  of  disease. 

Many  diseases  were  once  thought  incurable,  which  the  pr< 
gress  of  knowledge  has  taught  us  are  not  so,  but  are  now  re 


dily  cured.  As  for  example  :  the  small  pox,  once  sweeping 
away  tribes  and  nations,  as  with  our  North  American  Indians. 
Dropsies,  inflammations,  &,c.,  were  usually  fatal.' 

My  own  belief  is,  that  there  are  no  diseases  for  which  suc- 
cessful remedies  do  not  exist;  but,  owing  to  our  ignorance,  their 
prompt  and  timely  application  is  not  made,  and  thus  the  lives 
of  millions  are  needlessly  lost.  Oftentimes  perfect  remedies 
become  of  no  avail, from  the  ignorance  or  scepticism  of  the  pa- 
tient, or  his  friends. 

A  little  correct  knowledge  in  the  mind  of  each  individual, 
will  work  wonders  in  preserving  his  health  and  multiplying 
his  days. 


1.  Side  view  of  the  skeleton. 

2.  Front  view  of  the  skeleton. 

3.  Back  view  of  the  skeleton. 
4—4.  The  collar  bones. 

1—1.  The  shoulder  Made*, 


USCTURK  ON  TH8 


Before  I  proceed  farther,  allow  me  to  call  your  attention  to 
the  skeleton.  (See  Plate  A.)  We  live  in  a  house.  The  human 
frame  is  a  piece  of  mechanism  put  together  on  mechanical  prin- 
ciples, and  acting  in  all  its  parts  mechanically,  or  mainly  so  j 
the  only  exception  to  this  is,  in  the  chemical  changes  and  gal- 
vank  or  electric  exchanges  that  take  place  in  the  actions  and  se- 
cretions of  the  various  assimilating  organs  of  the  system,  and  in 
the  supply  of  power  to  the  nervous  system.  But  the  whole 
human  frame  and  all  its  parts,  constitute  in  the  whole  one  great 
machine,  whose  harmonious  action  confers  general  health. 

The  skeleton,  or  framework  on  which  all  is  built,  besides  the 
upper  and  lower  limbs,  is  naturally  divided  into  four  chambers  : 
1st,  the  skull  5  2d,  the  chest ;  3d,  the  abdomen ;  4th,  the  pel- 
vis, or  basket  of  the  hips.  (See  Plates  B  and  A.) 


PLATE  B. 


1.  Breast  bone. 
2—2.  Basket  of  the  chest. 
3—3.  Basket  of  the  hips. 

4.  The  spine  in  the  loins  or  small  of  the  back* 


USES  OF  THE  LUNGS,  S  TXJ. 


The  first  chamber  I  will  notice,  is  the  skull.  This  is  a  dark 
chamber,  remarkable  for  being  the  room  in  which  the  brain  is 
located,  and  is  also  remarkable  for  the  place  where  mind  and 
matter  meet.  In  the  brain,  resides  that  inscrutable  and  awful 
being,  the  human  soul.  The  eye  does  not  see,  the  ear  does  not 
hear,  all  the  senses  are  only  means  and  instruments  that  con- 
vey knowledge  to  the  soul.  The  soul  is  imprisoned  in  this 
dark  chamber.  Its  food  is  knowledge  ;  no  man  can  explain  — 
no  man  can  comprehend  it.  It  is  an  emanation  from  the  Most 
High  ;  and  in  control,  holds  the  same  relation  to  man's  body 
that  the  Almighty  does  to  it.  Imprisoned  now,  it  will  one  day 
leave  its  prison-house,  and  wing  its  way  to  immortality. 

The  chest  is  a  basket  of  bones,  formed  in  the  male  like  a 
sugar-loaf,  and  open  at  the  bottom  .  (See  Plate  B.)  The  ribs 
of  this  basket  are  tied  in  front  to  the  breast-bone,  by  elastic 
cartilages,  which,  for  perspicuity,  I  will  call  India-rubber.  By 
this  construction,  the  chest  is  made  flexible,  expansible,  or  com- 
pressible. It  is  the  only  bony  cavity  of  the  human  frame  that 
can  be  enlarged  or  diminished  at  one's  will.  So  formed  is  it, 
that  any  person  choosing  a  full  fine  chest,  can  have  it  ;  and  any 
one  choosing  to  have  a  contracted  small  chest,  can  be  gratified. 
This  flexibility  of  the  chest  continues  with  many  and  most  per- 
sons to  old  age.  It  is  in  highest  perfection  in  young  persons. 
The  chest  is  separated  from  the  abdomen  by  the  diaphragm,  or 
midriff,  which  is  a  fleshy  curtain  that  is  loose,  and  floating  up- 
wards into  the  chest  on  expiration,  and  falls  downwards  on  in- 
spiration: working  up  and  down  as  we  breathe.  (See  Plate  C.) 

On  each  side  of  the  chest  are  situated  the  lungs  $  a  couple  of 
air  bags,  folded  in  such  a  manner  as  to  present  a  vast  surface 
to  the  air.  (See  Plate  D.)  The  lungs,  like  their  envelope, 
the  chest,  are  flexible,  compressible,  and  expansible.  The  heart 
is  situated  between  the  two  lobes  of  the  lungs,  and  under  the 
breast-bone,  towards  its  lower  portion,  inclining  a  little  to  the 
left  side.  (See  Plate  D.) 

The  lungs  will  bear  moderate  compression  and  expansion, 
without  immediate  disease,  but  the  heart  will  not. 

A  vast  many  cases  of  heart  disease  are  produced  by  a  con- 


LECTURE  ON  THB 


PLATE   C. 


1.  Wind -pipe. 
2—2.  The  lungs. 

3.  The  heart. 

4.  The  midriff 

5.  The  stomach. 


6.  The  liver. 

7.  The  gall  bladder. 

8.  The  large  bowel. 

9.  The  small  bowel. 


traction  of  the  chest  ;  so  that  the  heart  has  not  room  to  play 
1  have  often  cured  seemingly  fatal  diseases  of  the  heart,  by  en- 
larging the  size  of  the  chest ;  of  which  I  shall  speak  in  another 
place. 

The  left  lung  is  smaller  than  the  right.  It  is  divided  into 
two  lobes,  whilst  the  right  has  three  lobes. 

The  lungs  are  formed  in  cells,  or  leaves,  if  you  please,  like 
the  honey-comb,  or  a  sponge.  Each  cell  has  walls  ;  and  on  the 
thickness  or  thinness  of  these  walls,  depends  the  health  or  dis- 
ease of  the  lungs ;  as  all  changes  in  the  lungs  commence  by 
rendering  their  walls  thick  *or  rather  by  external  pressure,  or 


USES  OF  THE  LUNGS,  ETC. 


PLATE   D. 


1.  The  \vin«.J  pipe. 

2.  The  right  lung,  or  great  air-bag. 

3.  The  heart. 

4.  The  left  lung  half  cut  away,  showing  the  air  pipes  ani  air  cells. 

5.  The  midriff,  or  floor  of  ths  lungs. 

internal  engorgement  of  the  walls  of  the  air  cells,  these  ceLs 
are  made  smaller,  or  entirely  closed. 

Each  air  cell  is  in  communication  with  the  air  pipes,  from 
which  it  is  rilled  with  air  at  each  inspiration,  and  empties  itself 
at  each  expiration.  The  air  cells  may  be  compared  to  grapes, 
and  the  air  pipes  to  the  stems  on  which  those  grapes  hang. 

Now  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  have  pulmonary  consumption, 
so  long  as  the  air  passes  freely  in  and  out  of  each  air  cell,  and 
thus  keeps  all  the  walls  of  the  air  cells  thin,  and  free  from  en- 
gorgement or  deposition  of  foreign  matter;  and  they  will  be 
kept  perfectly  free  from  such  engorgement,  or  deposition  of 
matter,  if  the  air  fully  inflates  each  air  cell  at  each  inspiration. 


2ft 


LECTURE  ON  THE 


PLATE    E . 


L  Wind-pipe. 

2.  The  gullet,  or  pipe  that  conveys  the  food  from  the  mouth  to  the  stomach. 
3 — 3.  The  belts  covering  the  front  of  the  abdomen. 


Allow  me  to  repeat,  pulmonary  consumption  is  caused  by  a 
general  or  partial  closing  of  the  air  cells,  either  from  exter- 
nal compression,  internal  engorgement  of  the  walls  of  the  air 
cells,  or  a  deposition  of  foreign  matter  in  the  air  ctPs ;  as 
chalk,  bony  matter,  &c. ;  which  last  is  very  rare.  It  is  utterly 
impossible  to  have  pulmonary  consumption,  unles  the  air  eel's 
are  more  or  less  obliterated.  The  disease  progresses  as  the  air 
cells  are  progressively  obliterated. 

A  portion  of  healthy  lung  will  float  on  water ;  a  portion  pul- 
monarily  diseased,  will  sink  in  water. 

From  vast  observation  and  experience,  I  unhesitatingly  as- 
sert that  consumption  is  one  of  our  most  curable  diseases  ;  and 


USES  OF  THE  LUNGS,  ETC.  27 

is  easier  prevented  and  warded  off,  than  any  hereditary  disease 
to  which  we  are  inclined. 

I  now  address  you  upon  the  uses  of  the  Lungs. 

On  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  uses  of  the  lungs  depend  all 
correct  views  of  their  diseases,  and  of  their  management.  It  is 
well  known  in  all  great  pieces  of  machinery,  both  natural  or 
artificial,  that  we  very  often  find  one  great  leading  purpose, 
and  then  comes  a  valuable  but  subordinate  p.urpose. 

In  nature,  the  sun:  its  first  grand  purpose  is  to  keep  the  pla- 
nets in  their  places  ;  its  subordinate  purpose  is  to  furnish  light 
and  heat,  to  those  planets. 

In  art,  notice  a  watch :  its  first  grand  object  is,  by  the  move- 
ments of  a  pendulum,  to  mark  the  progress  of  the  sun  across 
the  heavens.  It  might  be  a  perfect  time-keeper,  with  only  this 
movement ;  but  in  order  to  make  it  useful  to  us,  that  we  may 
be  informed  of  the  progress  of  the  sun,  another  subordinate 
movement  is  added,  by  which  hands  are  moved  iilong  a  dial 
plate  ;  thus  counting  to  us  the  lapse  of  hours  and  minutes. 

Again :  Lead  two  savages  into  a  flouring  mill ;  on  leaving 
that  mill,  one  may  be  supposed  to  ask  the  other  its  grand  use. 
At  once  he  replies,  it  is  to  separate  the  coarse  and  fine  parts  of 
that  powder  from  each  other.  No,  says  the  other,  that  is  not 
the  principal  use  of  the  mill ;  it  is  to  crush  the  kernels  of  wheat 
into  powder.  The  former,  by  only  noticing  a  subordinate  func- 
tion, arrives  at  a  very  false  estimate  of  the  importance  of  the 
mill,  or  the  magnitude  of  its  operations. 

So  with  the  lyngs.  It  is  one  of  the  most  singular  facts  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  human  mind,  and  the  progress  of 
knowledge,  that  from  all  time  it  has  been  known  that  the  hu- 
man frame,  in  all  its  parts,  constitutes  a  machine,  exhibiting 
everywhere  most  perfect  mechanism  ;  yet  no  human  being 
has  ever  asked,  "  What  is  the  power  that  moves  this  machi- 
nery," or  whence  does  it  derive  its  ability  to  continue  the 
movements  of  that  machinery.  One  would  suppose,  that  in 
the  earliest  dawning  of  knowledge,  this  question  would  have 
been  asked  and  answered. 


23  LECTURE  ON  THE 

Why  has  net  some  one,  long  ago.  stumbled  upon  it ;  so  nu 
merous  are  the  facts,  that,  like  a  linker-post,  have  ever  pointed 
to  it  1  Nearly  all  writers  upon  the  uses  of  the  lungs  make  the 
chief  use  of  those  vast  organs  to  purify  the  blood.  Others 
allow,  that  they  introduce  a  large  quantity  of  oxygen  into  the 
lood.  The  blood,  on  arriving  at  the  lungs,  is  of  a  dark  color  j 
and  on  leaving,  is  of  a  light  vermilion  red.  This  is  owing 
to  a  loss  of  carbon,  (charcoal,)  thrown  out  of  the  blood  in  the 
lungs.  Yet  this  loss  is  not  more  than  could  be  separated  by 
two  glands  half  the  size  of  the  kidneys  ;  and  does  not  at  all  ac- 
count for  the  vast  size  of  the  lungs,  so  disproportionate  to  this 
object.  To  purify  the  blood  of  this  carbon,  is  only  a  subordi- 
nate function  : — by  dwelling  so  long  on  this,  and  making  it 
nearly  final,  much  of  the  darkness  on  this  subject  has  arisen, 
with  all  its  deplorable  effects. 

What  are  the  grand  uses  of  the  Lungs  1 

In  1827,  whilst  pursuing  some  investigations  in  Philadelphia, 
upon  Nervous  Influence,  preparatory  to  my  graduation  thesis, 
I  discovered,  what  I  conceive  to  be,  the  grand  uses  of  the  lungs, 
and  their  first  great  purpose.  In  those  researches,  I  was  led  to 
ask,  what  it  was  that  gave  support  and  power  to  the  nervous 
system.  I  traced  this  support  to  the  lungs;  and  at  once,  and 
forever,  to  my  mind,  all  darkness  upon  the  uses  of  the  lungs 
disappeared. 

If  any  person  in  this  auditory  can  tell  me  why  we  breathe 
harder  in  running  up  stairs,  than  in  running  down,  he  can  tell 
me  what  are  the  principal  uses  of  the  lungs.  I  have  often 
asked  this  question.  I  never  met  but  one  person  who  could 
make  even  an  approximate  answer. 

But  what  are  the  uses  of  the  lungs  1     I  reply  : 

They  give  to  the  human  machine  its  power  of  action.  This 
power  exists  in  the  atmospheric  air;  and  the  lungs  are  the  me- 
dium by  which,  and  through  which,  that  principle  which  gives 
the  human  machine  its  living  power  is  conveyed  to  it. 

The  lungs  have  the  same  relation  to  the  human  machine, 
that  the  water  wheel  has  to  the  mill  it  moves.  The  air  is  the 


USES  OF  THE  LUNGS,  ETC.  29 

same  to  the  lungs  that  the  water  is  to  the  wheel:  shut  oif  the 
water  from  the  v;ater  wheel,  and  it  soon  stops  ;  shut  the  air 
from  the  lungs,  and  they  as  soon  stop,  and  all  the  system  with 
them.  Where  there  is  no  air,  there  is  no  act  on  ;  and  the  con- 
sumption of  air  iii  any  living  machine,  is  in  the  exact  r.:tio  of 
its  size  and  action.  It  is  most  likely  that  in  all  animals,  the 
same  momentum  of  action  requires  exactly  the  same  quantity 
of  air.  * 

We  see,  in  running  up  stairs,  the  lungs,  before  quiet  and 
easy  in  their  movements,  at  once  double  and  quadruple  their 
action:  and  if  the  exertion  is  long  continued,  are  lashed  into 
most  active  and  even  violent  pantings.  Whilst  not  the  least 
increase  of  action,  is  observed  in  running  down  stairs  ;  because 
there  is  no  increase  in  the  consumption  of  power;  for  no  in- 
crease of  power  is  required.  Exactly  in  the  ratio  of  the  con- 
sumption of  power,  will  be  the  action  of  the  lungs. 

To  illustrate  this  subject,  allow  me  to  present  a  few  exam- 
ples, familiar  to  you  all.  It  is  of  vital  consequence  that  we 
perfectly  understand  the  uses  of  the  lungs  \  do  this,  and  they 
will  become  as  playthings  to  us. 

USES    ILLUSTRATED. 

The  first  example  I  will  give  you  is  that  of  the  race-horse. 
Ask  any  stable  groom  upon  what  depends  the  value  of  the  race- 
horse, and  he  will  tell  you,  not  the  swiftness  of  his  heels,  but 
upon  his  bottom,  his  wind,  his  lungs.  Many  horses  could  out- 
run Eclipse,  at  one  mile,  that  would  be  dead  on  the  course  long 
before  they  could  accomplish  sixteen  miles.  This  truth  was 
known  long  before  the  days  of  Homer.  If  any  man  does  not 
know  it,  get  a  broken-winded  horse,  and  endeavor  to  urge  him 
into  speed,  and  he  will  soon  know. 

The  next  example  I  will  mention  to  you,  is  the  difference  in 
the  strength  of  men  and  women. 

We- all  know  that  women  are  weaker  than  mpn.  but  why  sc 
I  am  not  aware  has  ever  been  explained,  nor  can  it  be,  except 


30  LECTURE  ON  THE 


by  reference  to  the  uses  of  the  lir;gs.  The  lungs  of  women 
are  one-third  smaller  than  those  of  men,  as  an  examination  of 
their  chests  will  instantly  prove.  In  those  two  beautiful  re- 
mains of  Grecian  sculpture,  the  Apollo  of  Belvidere  in  Rome, 
and  the  Venus  of  Medicis  at  Florence,  to  which  pilgrimages 
are  made  annually  by  thousands  of  admiring  observers,  this 
rule  holds :  the  breast  of  the  Apollo  measures  three,  the  Venus 
two.  These  statues  6we  their  value  to  their  truth  and  fidelity 
to  beautiful  nature.  It  is  written  on  the  frame  of  woman,  that 
she  can  never  surpass  man  in  physical  strength ;  she  conquers 
by  her  charms ;  her  lungs  are  a  third  smaller  than  his,  conse- 
quently her  physical  strength  is  always  less. 

Agai  i :  observe  the  difference  in  the  strength  of  different  men. 
Were  ^ou  required  to  select  the  strongest  man  of  your  ac- 
quaintance, would  you  select  a  man  with  a  flat  thin  chest,  long 
neck  and  narrow  round  stooping  shoulders,  or  would  you  select 
a  man  with  a  wide,deep,round  chest  and  broad  heavy  shoulders  1 
There  can  be  but  one  answer.  You  would  choose  the  man  with 
large  lungs,  and  you  would  not  be  disappointed.  You  would 
find  his  strength  in  the  exact  ratio  of  his  pulmonary  develop- 
ment, other  things, being  equal. 

The  difference  in  the  strength  of  different  men  is  immense, 
and  the  difference  in  the  size  of  the  chest  forms  a  very  striking 
characteristic  in  such  cases. 

So  of  Northern  nations :  we  find  them  always  conquering 
Southern  nations,  because  of  their  superior  physical  strength, 
derived  from  larger  lungs,  from  breathing  purer,  denser,  and 
more  nourishing  air. 

Again  :  notice  a  man  about  to  lift  a  heavy  weight:  as  he  stoops 
•»  raise  it,  his  last  act  is  to  till  his  lungs  to  its  utmost  expan- 

m,  and  if  a  great  effort,  he  does  not  suffer  the  air  to  leave 
is  lungs  until  the  feat  of  strength  is  accomplished. 

Another  striking  instance  is  in  the  use  of  the  right  arm.  It 
to  seen  with  all  the  natives  of  this  globe,  that  the  right  arm  is 
preferred  in  its  use  over  the  left ;  in  other  words,  that  all  men 
are  right-handed,  as  a  general  rule.  Some  very  unsatisfactory 


USES  OF  THE  LUNGS,  ETC.  81 

reasons  are  given  for  this.  The  true  reason  is  found  in  the 
fact,  that  the  lungs  give  us  the  power  of  action,  and  that  the 
right  lung  is  larger  than  the  left;  hence  it  gives  more  power 
to  the  right  arm.  I  have  often  seen  the  right  arm  hang  quite 
useless  at  the  side  by  extensive  disease  of  the  right  lung. 

Very  rarely  we  find  persons  left-handed,  i  believe  in  all 
cases  where  they  are  left-handed,  the  left  lung  will  be  found 
to  be  the  largest.  I  have  often  had  an  opportunity  of  verifying 
this  fact ;  so  that  being  left-handed  is  not  a  matter  of  capri- 
cious or  accidental  choice  in  the  infant,  but  is  owing  to  the 
left  arm  being  the  strongest,  because  the  left  lung  is  the  largest. 
This  explains  why  it  is  so  difficult  to  make  a  left-handed  child 
prefer  to  use  the  right  hand,  and  thus  become  right-handed, 
when  nature  in  its  formation  has  ordained  it  otherwise,  by 
making  the  left  lung  the  largest — and  thus  the  left  arm  the 
strongest. 

Take  two  brothers,  one  brought  up  in  sedentary  pursuits  in 
the  city,  the  other  brought  up  and  leading  an  active  and  labori- 
ous life  in  the  country :  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  years  the  brother 
in  the  country  will  be  found  to  possess  in  a  vast  many  cases 
double  the  physical  strength  of  the  brother  in  the  city,  and  not 
half  as  inclined  to  pulmonary  consumption. 

We  talk  of  the  power  of  the  steam  engine,  and  are  struck  at 
its  wonderful  performances  :  but  there  is  a  power  that  laughs  at 
the  steam  engine,  and  that  is  the  power  that  is  developed  in 
the  eagle.  In  him  we  see  an  animal  that  poises  himself  high  in 
the  heavens,  and, almost  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning,  sweeps 
to  the  earth,  and  seizing  a  living  animal  of  nearly  or  quite 
Jus  own  weight,  flies  away  with  him  to  the  top  of  Mont  Blanc. 
This  is  power  acting  upon  mechanism.  We  know  of  nothing 
in  man's  art  that  will  compare  with  it. 

Now  what  is  peculiar  in  the  eagle?  First,  his  lungs  are  as 
large  as  can  be  stowed  in  his  body ;  secondly,  the  air  is  made 
to  fill  all  his  bones  and  quills,  and  finally  is  poured  through 
the  cellular  tissue,  and  spread  upon  the  living  muscles,  so  that 
they  may  feed  upon  the  air  without,  the  intervention  of  the  lungs. 


S3  LECTURE  ON  THE 


In  the  case  of  the  eagle,  science  say?  this  universal  diffusion 
of  air  in  his  quills  and  bones,  £c.,  is  to  buoy  him  up  in  the  sky. 
Not  so;  for  if  you  strike  him  in  the  sky,  ha  falls  to  the  earth 
as  suddenly  as  any  other  body  of  the  same  weight  and  space. 
It  is  to  give  him  more  air  to  consume,  as  no  lungs  can  be  given 
him  sufficiently  large  to  give  air  enough  to  generate  a  power 
sufficient  for  the  wonderful  feats  of  strength  he  is  called  upon  to 
perform. 

Many  migratory  pigeons  that  travel  fifty  miles  an  hour,  that 
you  can  hold  upon  your  hand,  consume  more  air  tharfsome  fe- 
males. 

Again :  go  down  the  scale  of  beings,  and  take  those  animals 
who, for  a  greater  or  less  period  of  time,  suspend  all  action,  and 
you  find  that  the  lungs  consume  little  or  no  air  at  this  time,  as 
irTthe  case  of  the  frog  imbedded  in  stone  or  clay,  for  indefinite 
periods,  perhaps  hundreds  of  years. 

So  with  the  hibernating  bear,  who  breathes  scarcely  once  in 
several  minutes.  In  all  cases  it  will  be  observed,  with  no  ex- 
ception whatever,  that  in  all  animals  the  action  of  the  lungs 
will  be  found  to  correspond  exactly  to  the  consumption  of 
power;  and,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  where  there  is  no  air, 
there  will  be  no  action. 

The  importance  of  fully  understanding  this  subject  may  be 
inferred,  by  knowing  that  the  larger  the  lunps  and  the  more 
perfect  their  development,  the  less  they  are  liable  to  pulmo- 
nary consumption.  That  the  more  they  are  exercised,  the 
larger  they  will  become  ;  that  as  we  lake  active  or  laborious  ex- 
ercise, our  lungs  will  be  continually  enlarging;  and  that  on  the 
contrary,  indolence,  want  of  exercise,  &c.,  will  render  the 
lungs  smaller  and  smaller,  until  by  absence  of  air  the  air  cells 
then  will  close  up,  and  cbllapse  their  walls,  as  a  bird  folds  up 
its  plumage. 

By  this  we  also  learn  that  pure  air,  and  even  cold  air,  be- 
cause more  dense,  is  the  best  friend  of  the  lungs,  and  should  be 
resorted  tc  with  the  greatest  confidence,  both  to  prevent  and 
cure  their  diseases. 


USES  OF  THE  LUNGS,  ETC.  33 


Pare  air  is  the  food  of  the  lunsrs.  and  diffuses  through  thorn 

o     '  O 

life,  energy  and  activity,  into  the  system.  In  the  pursuit  of 
any  science,  if  many  minds  of  equal  power  and  endowment 
investigate  a  suhject,  and  arrive  at  far  different  conclusions, 
diverging  from  each  other  like  the  spokes  of  a  wh^ei,  we  may 
be  certain  they  have  started  wrong;  that  thc-ir  .Kc-.n.ses  are  er- 
roneous. As  for  example,  the  hieroglyphics  ol  Egypt.  On 
many  monuments,  tombstones,  obelisks  and  pyramids  in  Egypt, 
are  observed  numerous  inscriptions,  paintings,  £.c.,  drawn  or 
engraved  upon  the  solid  granite.  For  more  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred years  a  knowledge  of  the  meaning  or  purpose  of  these  in- 
scriptions was  lost  to  the  civilized  world.  Books  and  almost 
libraries  were  written  to  prove  their  uses,  some  making  them 
one  thing,  and  some  another,  until  recently  it  was  hinted 
that  these  very  pictures  were  alphabetical  letters.  No  sooner 
was  this  idea  fairly  stated,  than  an  alphabet  was  commenced 
and  gradually  completed,  until  now  these  Egyptian  writings 
are  read  with  the  facility  of  the  inscriptions  in  the  tomb-stones 
in  our  grave-yards.  All  the  wretched  speculations  of  the  once 
would-be  learned  scholars  have  been  dissipate^  and  proved  to 
be  the  absurdity  of  ignorance. 

We  now  learn  that  what  was  supposed  to  be  a  cloud,  cover- 
ing most  inscrutable  mysteries,  are  only  simple  records  of 
men's  actions,  wishes,  lives  and  .deaths,  and  were  once  familiar- 
ly read  by  all  the  stone-mason?  of  Egypt. 

Now  this  is  precisely  the  condition  of  our  knowledge  in  re- 
gard to  the  lungs,  their  uses  and  diseases  ;  a  perfect  cloud  rests 
over  them,  because  their  uses  are  not  well  understood.  Their 
grand  purpose  is  entirely  overlooked,  and  unknown  by  the 
mass  of  medical  and  other  men. 

This  is  shown  in  their  practice  and  its  results.  No  two  of 
any  experience  agree  in  their  practice.  I  do  not  know  that  I 
ever  met  two  physicians  who  were  of  any  eminence  and  not 
mere  imitators,  who  thought  or  acted  alike  in  .managing  con- 
sumption, or  who  had  the  least  notion  how  it  might  be  pre- 
vented. Nor  have  they  any  confidence  in  their  own  practice : 
2* 


34  LECTURE  0\  THE 


i  i  few  cases  have  they  the  least  hope  of  curing  the  disease  01 
of  preventing  it.  Go  to  thorn  to  treat  a  pleurisy  or  lung-fever, 
or  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  and  they  do  it  skilfully  ;  but  tell 
them  the  patient  has  the  consumption,  or  is  threatened  with  it, 
and  at  once  all  is  douht  and  darkness.  One  tells  him  to  go  to 

warm  climate— another  says,  go  to  a  cold  climate  ;  one  says 
keep  in  the  open  air— another  says,  shut  yourself  up  in  your 
room  in  all  cold  \veather,  or  damp  or  windy.  One  says,  we 
can  cure  consumption  if  we  can  stop  the  motion  of  the  lungs, 
and  so  directs  his  unfortunate  patient  not  to  breathe  much,  and 
to  restrain  his  breath  as  long  as  possible  ;  one  tells  him  to 
breathe  the  air  wh  n  out  of  doors,  but  another  commands  his 
patient  to  wear  a  respirator  and  cover  his  mouth ,and  not  allow 
the  cold  air  to  touch  his  lungs,  &c.  One  blisters  the  chest  or 
makes  awful  sores  upon  it;  another  rejects  this,  &c.  One  bleeds 
and  reduces  the  patient,  another  stimulates  him  and  gives  tonics. 

In  one  thing  they  nearly  all  agree,  and  their  experience  is 
alike,  that  their  patients  nearly  all  die.  This  universal  mor- 
tality among  their  patients  keeps  them  all  in  countenance,  and 
inspires  confidence  that  their  practice  is  right. 

Nothing  daunted,  a  learned  physician  will  conduct  all  the 
members  of  a  family  to  their  graves,  one  after  another,  giving 
the  same  remedies  to  each,  and  never  once  suspecting  that  his 
practice  is  wrong,  or  that  it  can  be  changed  for  the  better. 

Intimate  to  the  medical  body  that  consumption  is  a  curable 
disease,  and  at  once  such  an  idea  is  denounced  as  the  height  of 

7  D 

folly  or  knavery. 

What  results  from  this  darkness  of  the  medical  faculty  1  Why 
the  whole  land  is  covered- with  a  pall ;  nearly  one  half  of  the 
adults,  when  they  die,  die  of  consumption  or  diseases  of  the 
chest. 

The  whole  population  are  running  everywhere  for  aid.  All 
confidence  in  the  regular  medical  faculty,  for  consumption, 
is  lost  ;  nobody  respects  them,  and  they  do  not  respect  them- 
selves, on  this  subject. 

Allow  me  here  to  say,  from  avast  experience,  that  nine- 
tenths  of  all  that  is  laid  down  in  medical  books,  taught  in  medi- 


USES  OF  THfc!  LUNGS,  ETC.  35 


cal  schools,  or  pursued  in  medical  practice,  for  the  prevention 
and  cure  of  consumption,  is  calculated  to  make  the  disease,  not 
to  cure  it. 

Another  most  startling  fact  grows  out  of  these  premises, 
which  is,  that  our  oldest  and  most  eminent  physicians,  every 
where — those  standing  highest  in  the  communities  where  they 
reside,  having  the  most  influence,  and  most  addicted  to  written 
authorities,  and  regular  precedence,  in  fact  called  the  head 
of  the  medical  profession — are  the  poorest  possible  authority 
upon  consumption,  except  to  record  its  fatality.  Their  con- 
sumptive patients  all  die,  without  a  single  exception,  and 
for  this  we  have  their  most  emphatic  authority.  Dr.  Nathaniel 
Chapman,  who  has  been  for  a  great  many  years  Professor  of 
the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  a  recent  publication,  denounces  a  man  who  pro- 
fesses to  cure  consumption,  as  sinking-  himself  to  the  most  de- 
grading charlatanism ;  and  solemnly  declares,  that  in  a  prac- 
tice of  fifty  years,  he  never  has. seen  a  case  of  seated  consump- 
tion cured.  This,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  is  a  record  of  his  prac- 
tice ;  and  of  nearly  all,  with  scarcely  an  exception  in  the  regu- 
lar faculty,  up  to  this  time  ;  and  most  fully  confirms  all  I  have 
said  upon  the  awful  destructiveness  of  their  practice.  This 
leads  me  also  to  call  to  your  minds,  that  nearly  all  the  higher 
classes  in  this  country,  who  only  employ  the  old  school  physi- 
cians, when  struck  with  consumption,  die  of  it.  Whilst  with 
the  more  independent,  and  thinking  classes,  not  trammelled  by 
fashion ;  not  reverencing  mere  names  and  pretensions,  but  fly 
from  such  persons,  and  ask  for  facts,  demand  cures,  find  often, 
at  last,  in  perhaps  an  obscure  old  woman,  or  some  illiterate  per- 
son, that  aid  which  could  not  be  obtained  from  their  regular, 
and  "  world  and  time-honored  physicians."  This  want  of  suc- 
cess of  the  school-bred  physicians,  is  owing  to  their  profound 
ignorance  of  the  uses  of  the  lungs.  Why  do  they  not  at  ontfe, 
as  honest  men,  tell  their  consumptive  patients,  we  cannot  cure 
you,  and  leave  them  to  nature  and  its  resources,  without  adding 
to  their  sufferings  the  accumulated  and  accumulating  ills  of 
drugs  and  medical  remedies,  that  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  hurry 


33  LECTURE  ON  THE 


them  to  their  graves,  and  deprive  them  of  all  comfort  whilst  living. 
I  have  known  many  old  physicians,  who  at  last,  overwhelmed 
by  their  ill  success,  say  at  once  to  their  patients,  let  medicines 
alone,  and  trust  to  diet,  change  of  air,  and  nature.  It  is  a  fact, 
that  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  patients  left  to  them- 
clves  will  live  much  longer  without  the  usual  medicines, 
than  with  them.  Wo  then  to  you,  consumptives,  who  put  your- 
selves in  the  care  of  those  who  pronounce  consumption  always 
incurable. 

Let  me  here  enter  a  solemn  disclaimer  of  any  unkind  feel- 
ings towards  any  physicians.  No  man  better  than  myself, 
knows  their  sacrifices,  their  great  benevolence,  and  disinterest 
ed  efforts  in  behalf  of  sick  and  suffering  humanity.  None  ad- 
mit more  fully  than  they,  all  that  I  have  said  on  the  insuffi- 
ciency, and  even  mischievous  nature  of  their  practice,  and  on 
its  deplorable  effects  on  medical  reputation.  None  would  go  far- 
ther, or  do  more  than  they  to  introduce  a  successful  practice  in 
the  cure  of  consumption,  or  rejoice  more  to  see  it  fairly  classed 
among  curable  diseases.  But  alas,  in  our  profession,  a  few  high 
priests  dictate  to  all  the  others,  and  the  laity  of  the  profession 
consent  to  receive  instruction  only  through  these  oracles.  My 
father,  my  grandfather  and  brother,  were  regular,  eminent,  and 
respectably  educated  physicians.  I  cannot  bear  ill  feelings  to- 
wards physicians.  No  one  respects  them  more  ;  but  1  do  deplore 
their  ignorance  of  the  uses  of  the  lungs,  and  causes  of  consump- 
tion ;  and  most  of  all,  their  ignorance  of  even  rational  practice 
in  pulmonary  diseases. 

One  excuse  is  found,  and  a  good  one,  that  no  books  teach 
correctly  the  uses  of  the  lungs;  hence  arises  all  the  darkness, 
inefficiency,  and  mischief  of  their  practice.  Again  :  let  me  say 
to  physicians,  I  have  no  secret  remedies;  call  on  me,  if  you 
cboose  ;  you  will  find  me  always  friendly,  and  the  little  I 
know,  is  at  your  service. 

Allow  me,  before  I  go  farther,  to  refer  to  one  most  interesting 
fact  in  the  history  of  the  spread  and  prevalence  of  consump- 
tion. It  is  found  in  the  history  of  the  American  Indians,-  at 
one  time  numbering  many  millions  of  people,  and  inhabiting 


USES  OF  THE  LUNGS,  ETC.  37 

from  the  most  extreme  point  north,  to  Patagonia,  soutli  ;  em- 
bracing ail  varieties  of  climate  and  location;  resting  in  the 
frigid,  temperate,  and  torrid  zones  ;  occupying  every  variety 
of  situation,  on  the  seaboard,  on  the  borders  of  the  lakes,  on  the 
tops  of  tile  highest  lands,  and  in  the  mc~t  secluded  valleys  ;  on 
the  wide-spread  and  open  prairies,  and  in  the  most  arid  deserts  ; 
the  countries  of  the  greatest  humidity,  and-  where  it  rarely 
ever  rains,  as  in  Peru  ;  yet  in  all  these  countries,  and  every 
where,  such  a  thing  as  a  case  of  pulmonary  consumption  has 
never  been  observed,  whilst  those  people  remained  in  their  sa- 
vage state.  Bnng  them  into  our  settlements,  civilize  them, 
educate  them,  and  let  them  adopt  our  habits,  and  they  become 
as  liable  to  consumption  as  we  ourselves. 

It  is  eminently  due  to  ourselves  and  our  subject,  to  notice 
the  peculiarities  of  the  savage  Indian,  as  compared  with  our- 
selves, and  to  seek  for  some  light  to  elucidate  the  frequency  of 
pulmonary  consumption. 

By  what  peculiarities  is  the  Indian  distinguished  from  the 
civilized  Ameiican  1  1st.  The  American  Indian  is  remarkable 
for  the  perfect  symmetry  of  his  figure.  u  Straight  as  an  Indian," 
is  an  old  proverb,  whose  truth  is  instantly  recognised  by  all 
who  have  ever  seen  the  wild  Indian  :  his  chest  is  perfect  s\  m- 
metry,  his  shoulders  and  shoulder  blades  are  laid  flat  against 
the  chest,  and  the  whole  weight  of  his  arms,  shoulders,  and 
shoulder  blades,  is  thrown  behind  the  chest — thus  always  ex- 
panding, instead  of  contracting  it;  the  naked  chest,  and  whole 
person, is  often  exposed  to  the  open  air;  they  are  much  out  of 
doors;  indeed,  rarely  in -doors;  breathe  the  pure  air,  never 
stoop  in  gait  or  walk,  and  pursue  no  avocations  that  contract 
the  chest,  or  prevent  its  free  and  full  expansion;  often  wash 
themselves  in  pure  cold  water ;  exercise  the  lungs  freely  by 
active  athletic  exercise  ;  running,  racing,  the  chase,  frequently 
dancing,  and  shouting,  &c.,  most  vehemently,  nearly  every  clay. 
The  same  holds -true  in  regard  to  animals.  Animals  in  their 
wild  state  never  have  the  consumption  ;  whilst  the  same  ani- 
mals domesticated  have  it — as  the  monkey,  the  rabbit,  the 
horse,  &c.  Consumption  is  a  child  of  civilization ;  results 


38  LECTURE  ON  THE 


c/tiejliffrom  loss  of  symmetry,  and  from  effeminacy,  i?iduced  by 
too  much  clothing,  too  luxurious  living,  dissipation,  too  little  ex- 
ercise, and  debilitating  diseases  and  occupations. 

CAUSES    OF    CONSUMPTION. 

The  causes  of  consumption  may  be  divided  into  three  great 
Classes. 

First:  Mechanical  causes,  loss  of  symmetry,  external  and 
internal. 

Second  :  Effeminacy  and  debility  of  the  constitution. 

Third  :  Poison.     Inhaling  dust,  &.c. 

We  have  remarked  before,  that  consumption  could  never 
take  place  until  the  air  ceils  of  the  lungs  are  closed,  and  so  dis- 
posed that  the  air  does  not  fill  them  well  when  we  breathe; 
and  that  when  every  air  cell  is  freely  open,  at  each  inspira- 
tion, no  consumption  can  ever  take  place. 

The  first  cause  of  consumption  I  will  notice,  is,  any  external 
cause  that  contracts  the  basket  of  the  chest  upon  the  lungs,  by 
any  external  pressure.  This  is  produced  by  the  weight  of  the 
shoulders,  arms,  and  shoulder  blades,  being  brought  foiward 
on  the  chest.  (See  Plate  F.)  The  collar  bones  are  shoulder 
braces,  and  occur  only  in  man,  and  are  intended  to  keep  the 
shoulders  olf  the  chest  5  but  if  long  pressed  upon,  they  yield  and 
bead.  Pressure  upon  them  depresses  the  breast  bone  at  its 
lower  end,  and  breaks  it  down  towards  the  back  bone,  and 
causes  the  breast  bone  to  press  upon  the  heart,  and  allows  the 
ribs  to  press  upon  the  lungs,  and  press  their  flexible  sides  upon 
each  other.  The  structure  of  the  lungs  is  so  flexible,  that  they 
yield  to  the  slightest  external  pressure,  and  allow  the  capacity, 
or  size  of  the  chest,  to  be  diminished  daily  ;  in  fact,  the  sub- 
stance of  the  lungs  offers  no  resistance  to  a  shrinking  of  the 
chest ;  as  the  largest  lung,  when  perfectly  collapsed,  is  not  larger 
than  an  ordinary  fist,  if  so  large.  The  weight  cf  the  arms, 
shoulders,  &c.,  thrown  forward  upon  the  chest,  causes  it  to  col 
lapse  daily,  unless  resisted  by  most  forcible  and  constant  strong 
breaths,  or  inspirations  of  air.  To  delicate  persons,  the  least 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  39 


inclined  to  crbest  diseases,  this  position  of  the  shoulders  is  one 
grand  cause  of  consumption.  Jn  fact,  any  position  of  the  shoul- 
ders, by  which  the  weight  of  the  arms  is  made  to  Lear  across 
.the  chest,  or  upon  it,  instead  of  hanging  down,  so  as  to  draw 
the  che*st  backwards,  will  contribute  powerfully  to  diminish 
the  size  of  the  chest — press  upon  the  lungs,  and  close  the  air 
cells — to  prevent  a  free  circulation  of  blood  through  the  lungs, 
and  thus  tend  to  produce  imperfect  breathing,  bleeding  at  the 
lungs,  deposit  of  tubercles,  and  all  the  horrors  and  realities 
of  consumption.  (See  plate  F.)  It  is  for  this  reason  that  all  me- 
chanical employments  that  cause  us  to  stoop  forward,  will  in- 
cline to  injure  the  chest;  in  truth,  every  position  forward  of 
the  erect,  is  a  producing  cause  of  consumption.  Who  are  those 
that  contract  these  bad  positions  1  I  might  at  once  say  this 
whole  nation,  or  nearly  all  its  inhabitants,  over  three  years  old. 
If  there  is  any  appellation  that  would  apply  to  us  as  a  nation, 
it  is  round-shouldered.  The  habit  of  contracting  the  chest,  by 
stooping,  is  formed  in  multitudes  at  school,  by  sitting  at  low 
tables  or  no  tables  ;  by  sitting  ail  in  a  heap,  either  in  school  or 
out  of  school,  by  not  holding  themselves  erect,  either  sitting  or 
standing  ;  as  it  is  a  matter  of  habit  in  a  great  degree,  tailors, 
shoemakers,  machinists,  clerks,  students,  seamstresses,  in  fact 
all  whose  occupation  causes  them  to  stoop  at  their  work,  or 
at  rest,  or  at  their  pleasures,  or  amusements.  (See  Plates  F,K,T.) 

Passing  by  the  position  of  the  arms,  shoulders,  and  chest 
itself,  another  most  fruitful  cause  of  consumption,  is  wearing 
the  clothing  too  tight  around  the  base  of  the  chest,  so  as  to  di- 
minish the  size  of  the  waist.  Millions  from  this  cause  sleep  in 
untimely  graves. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  and  written  against  tight-lacing. 
It  is  not  entirely  peculiar  to  ladies.  It  occurs  in  both  sexes. 
The  effect,  however,  is  deplorable  in  the  extreme  ;  it  prevents 
a  free  expansion  of  the  lungs,  closes  the  air-cells  of  the  lobes  of 
the  lungs  at  their  bases  ;  impedes  greatly  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  produces  shortness  of  breath,  hurried  breathing,  and  ex- 
tensive closing  of  the  air-cells  of  the  lungs,  bleeding  at  the 
lungs,  &,c. 


40  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

Consumption  usually  begins  in  the  top  of  the  lungs  ;  but 
many  cases  occur  when  the  waist  has  been  greatly  contracted, 
that  tubercles  are  first  deposited  in  the  bases  of  the  lung?,  and 
by  their  softenings  produce  one  of  the  most  intractable  and  in: 
curable  forms  of  consumption. 

I  once  knew  a  lady,  who  at  nineteen,  chose  to  have  the  small- 
est waist  in  the  neighborhood.  Small  waists  were  then  and 
there  considered  by  the  young  ladies,  as  most  desirable.  She 
would  lace  her  stays  as  tightly  as  she  could  wear  them  by  day, 
and  at  night  would  sleep  in  them.  Before  going  to  bed,  she 
would  tie  one  lace  string  to  the  bed  post,  and  holding  the  other, 
would  throw  her  whole  weight  on  the  strings,  so  as  to  contract 
the  chest  very  greatly  ;  indeed,  she  soon  had  a  perfect  wasp,  or 
hour-glass  shape.  She  wras  in  no  way  predisposed  to  consump- 
tion. In  a  few  months,  from  perfect  health,  she  sunk  away 
into  a  species  of  apparent  consumption,  and  died  a  most  awful 
death,  from  the  dreadful  throes  and  efforts  to  breathe,  which 
characterised  the  disease  for  some  time  before  she  died.  After 
death  her  body  was  opene-J,  when  it  was  found  that  the  liver, 
the  upper  part  of  the  stomach,  the  midriff,  the  heart,  and  lobes 
of  both  lungs,  had  all  grown  together;  and  in  this  way  pro- 
duced an  untimely  and  awful  death.  Great  contraction  of  the 
base  of  the  chest,  is  a  vast  misfortune,  and  utterly  prevents  a 
full  development  of  the  lungs  ;  consequently  they  will  always 
be  weak,  and  disposed  in  such  persons  to  the  consumption. 

A  striking  and  almost  demonstrative  proof,  that  consumption 
is  caused  by  want  of  expansion  and  exercise  of  the  lungs,  is 
found  in  the  fact,  that  disease  always  begins  first  in  those  parts 
of  the  lungs  least  expanded  and  exercised,  which  are  in  nearly 
all  cases  the  tops  of  the  lungs  ;  whilst  the  bases  of  the  lungs, 
that  are  usually  much  exercised,  are  rarely  ever  diseased  until 
late  in  the  progress  of  consumption.  In  some  rare  cases,  either 
from  rheumatism,  pleurisy,  or  tight-lacing,  the  bottoms  of  the 
lungs  are  least  exercised,  and  consequently  first  diseased. 

Supposing  the  shoulder  blades,  shoulders,  and  all  the  chest 
to  be  in  perfect  symmetry,  and  to  be  well  developed,  and  the 
base  of  the  chest  well  expanded,  and  the  air  cells,  in  fact  a  per- 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION  41 


fectly  healthy  chest  and  lungs,  there  is  another  formidable  ene- 
my to  them,  arising  from  a  relaxation  or  weakness  of  the  na- 
tural belts  which  cover  the  abdomen,  by  which  free  expiration 
of  the  air  is  prevented.  Loss  of  symmetry  acting  on  the  floor 
of  the  lungs. 

FALLING  OF  THE   BOWELS. 

By  referring  to  plate  C,  you  will  there  see  the  lungs,  heart, 
and  liver,  stomach,  large  bowel,  and  midriff,  all  in  their  places 
in  symmetry.  You  will  notice  the  lungs  are  wedge-shaped, 
with  their  small  ends  uppermost  ;  the  heart  weighing  conside- 
rable, the  liver  weighing  some  pounds,  and  the  stomach  and 
large  and  small  bowels,  &c.  The  chest,  you  will  see,  is  a  bas- 
ket of  bones,  (look  at  plate  A,)  and  open  at  the  bottom,  so  that 
on  setting  up  the  trunk  of  the  body,  all  the  organs  incline  to 
fall  downwards  to  the  groins  and  into  the  basket  of  the  hips  ; 
and  they  would  all  fall  through,  causing  instant  death,  if  this 
were  not  prevented,  and  these  all  kept  up,  perfectly  and  beau- 
tifully in  their  places,  by  the  basket  of  the  hips  falling  back- 
wards, and  by  the  natural  belts  that  cover  all  the  front  and 
sides  of  the  trunk  of  the  body,  which  arise  from  the  ends  of  the 
breast  bone,  and  the  lower  edges  of  all  the  short  ribs  and  back 
bone,  where  there  are  no  ribs ;  the  upper  edges  of  the  hip  bones, 
and  from  the  cross  bone,  that  goes  across  the  lower  part  of  the 
abdomen,  these  belts  are  very  strong,  perfectly  flexible,  and 
are  found  in  three  layers  ;  so  that  when  in  health,  the  stowage 
of  the  trunk  of  -the  body  and  all  the  internal  organs  is  perfect. 
No  jarring  of  any  of  the  organs  takes  place  on  walking:  ail 
the  inside  of  the  body  is  kept  perfectly  firm  and  tight,  yet  elas- 
tic. These  abdominal  muscles,  or  belts,  act  a  most  important 
part  in  the  functions  of  breathing,  speaking,  &c.  (See  plate  E.) 

The  midriff,  or  diaphragm,  (see  plate  D,)  is  a  fleshy  curtain 
drawn  across  the  base  of  the  chest,  and  fastened  to  the  middle 
of  the  chest  and  to  the  breast  bone,  and  ends  of  the  short  ribs, 
and  back  bone.  Oh  its  sides  it  is  entirely  loose,  and  its  loose 
portions  open  up  into  the  chest,  like  inverted  bowls,  rouading 


42  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

up  against  the  base  of  each  lung,  but  not  much  against  the  heart. 
It  is  the  floor  of  the  lungs. 

When  we  draw  in  the  air,  the  midriff  draws  downwards,  and 
allows  the  lungs  to  fall  down  and  fill  full  of  air  ;  and  at  this  mo- 
ment the  abdominal  belts  contract  themselves,  and  draw  back 
against  the  lower  bowels,  and  at  once  dash  the  liver  and  sto- 
mach and  all  the  bowels  upwards ;  so  that  the  liver  and  stomach 
start  upwards  into  the  loose  parts  of  the  midriff,  and  drive  it 
against  the  bottom  of  each  lung.  This  impulse  at  the  bottom 
of  the  lungs  is  felt  up  to  the  collar  bones,  when  the  abdominal 
belts  are  healthy  and  strong  ;  by  which  contrivance  the  air  is 
forced  out  of  the  lungs,  and  the  upper  part  of  the  lungs  are 
fully  expanded,  and  all  the  upper  air  cells  fully  distended.  A 
little  reflection  will  convince  you  of  the  indispensable  neces- 
sity for  good  lungs  and  healthy  breathing,  that  the  abdominal 
belts  should  be  perfectly  strong  and  healthy.  (See  Plate  E, 
for  a  view  of  these  belts,  to  which  we  shall  again  recur  in  an- 
other lecture.) 

On  the  contrary,  if  these  belts  are  weak  from  any  cause,  the 
respiration  becomes  feeble  ;  talking  long,  or  reading  loud,  is 
impossible  without  great  fatigue,  and  aching  of  the  lungs,  pain 
and  dragging  down  in  the  top  of  the  chest — shrinking  of  the 
chest  under  the  collar  bones,  so  that  they  stick  up  very  much  ; 
tops  of  the  lungs  collapse,  and  the  air  cells  close  more  or  less, 
by  which  they  are  exposed  toa  deposit  of  tuberculous  matter. 
The  blood  circulates  badly  through  the  lungs,  and  they  readily 
become  full  of  blood,  and  bleeding  at  the  lungs  often  takes 
place  ;  great  weakness  and  sinking,  and  twitching  is  felt  along 
and  at  the  end  of  the  breast  bone  ; — wheezing,  breathing,  short- 
ness of  breath,  &c.,  a  dragging  down,  fatigued  feeling  at  the 
collar  bones,  and  a  constant  disposition  to  stoop,  not  being  able, 
or  not  feeling  able,  to  sit  or  stand  erect.  In  a  vast  many  cases 
this  is  impossible  ;  a  hacking  cough,  and  at  first  a  dry  irritating 
cough,  is  apt  to  arise  ; — weak  voice  and  sore  throat  5  pains 
about  the  wind -pipe,  and  dryness  in  the  throat.  In  a  great 
many  cases  of  bleeding  at  the  lungs,  it  will  be  found  that 
weakness  of  the  abdominal  belts  is  the  grand  cause.  By  this 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION,  43 

the  floor  of  the  lungs  may  be  said  to  be  knocked  out.  On  at- 
tempting a  long  breath,  it  seems  lost,  and  on  drawing  in  a  long 
breath,  the  short  ribs  and  lower  end  of  the  breast  bone,  in  place 
of  opening  when  we  inspire  the  air,  seems  to  close  around  the 
base  of  the  lungs,  seeming  as  if  a  cord  was  drawn  around  them. 
Breathing  becomes  difficult,  and  much  exercise  of  the  lungs 
aeems  impossible.  A  great  many  consumptions  in  both  sexes, 
begin  with  pain  an;l  weakness  across  the  bowels  ;  aggravated  by 
talking,  singing,  &c  ,  complete  loss  of  voice  at  times.  Bleeding 
at  the  lungs  is  often  preceded  by  a  sinking,  hollow,  deathly 
feeling,  more  or  less  for  months,  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  or 
about  the  sides  somewhere,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  In  cases 
of  much  relaxation  of  the  abdominal  belts,  in  walking,  the  lungs 
jar  and  tremble  at  every  step.  At  times  the  breath  seems  lost. 
This  subject  is  well  .illustrated  in  cases  of  pregnancy.  All 
physicians  and  observers  know  how  promptly  pregnancy  will 
stop  the  progress  of  consumption,  and  that  it  will  seem  sus- 
pended in  bad  cases  until  the  birth  of  the  child.  In  a  great 
man}7"  cases,  pregnancy  will  and  does  cure  early  consumption  ; 
and  could  the  child  be  carried  in  the  womb  for  eighteen  instead 
of  nine  months,  nearly  all  consumptive  mothers  would  be  cured. 

This  is  done  by  the  womb,  with  all  its  contents,  rising  up 
into  the  abdomen,  and  forcing  the  liver,  stomach  and  bowels 
upwards,  so  as  to  lift  up  the  floor  of  the  lungs,  enlarging  greatly 
the  size  of  the  waist,  and  spreading  the  short  ribs.  The  lungs 
feel  the  upward  pressure  to  the  collar  bones,  so  that  even  mo- 
derate breathing  will  expand  the  tops  of  the  lungs.  All  the 
benefits  to  consumptive  ladies  in  pregnancy,  may  not  arise  from 
mechanical  causes  only  5  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  it  is  almost 
entirely  so. 

Again  :  on  the  cessation  of  pregnancy,  the  floor  of  the  lungs 
suddenly  loses  its  support ;  and  unless  fully  supported  and  re- 
medied, they  sink  down  ;  the  breathing  becomes  difficult,  the 
lungs  are  most  imperfectly  filled,  the  cavities  before  closed  by 
the  lifting  up  of  the  lungs,  which  have  not  healed,  now  gape 
open  ;  the  disease  again  starts  with  accelerated  pace  and  fury, 
and  death  soon  closes  the  scene.  During  pregnancy,  the  lungs 


44  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

are  placed  in  a  most  favorable  condition  to  be  cured.  If  in 
any  way  diseased,  this  period  should  by  all  means  be  improved, 
to  give  perfect  health  to  the  lungs. 

I  am  disposed  to  the  belief,  that  about  one-third  of  all  the 
consumptions  originate  from  weakness  of  the  abdominal  belts. 
In  my  lectures  to  ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  subject  will  be 
again  resumed. 

EFFEMINACY    AND    DEBILITY,  A   CAUSE    OF 
CONSUMPTION. 

The  next  great  cause  of  consumption  I  will  mention,  sup- 
posing the  chest  to  be  in  perfect  symmetry,  the  floor  of  the 
lungs  solid,  by  firm  abdominal  belts  no  sinking  or  weakness  at 
the  stomach,  no  jarring  of  the  lungs  on  walking. 

This  cause  proceeds  from  the  habits  and  constitutional  con- 
dition of  the  system  itself,  comprised  in  two  words,  effeminacy 
and  debility. 

I  have  told  you  that  the  lungs  are  the  medium  that  gives  us 
the  power  of  action.  This  power  is  in  the  air ;  the  lungs  taking 
it  from  the  air  and  conveying  it  through  the  blood  to  the  whole 
system.  The  action  of  the  lungs,  the  full  and  complete  expan- 
sion which  we  desire  to  produce  at  each  breath,  will  depend 
on  the  exercise  of  the  individual. 

So  that  ail  trades,  occupations,  professions,  or  employments, 
whether  for  recreation  or  profit,  whether  from  voluntary  or  ne- 
cessary indulgence,  that  prevent  our  taking  active  exercise,  will 
incline  to  a  rest  of  the  system,  diminished  consumption  of  its 
power,  and  consequently  a  lessened  action  of  the  lungs,  exactly 
in  the  ratio  in  which  the  exercise  of  the  whole  system  is  less- 
ened. The  hearer  can  easily  fill  up  the  catalogue  from  all  the 
sedentary  employments  and  occupations  comprising  all  those 
engaged  in  the  sedentary  mechanical  trades  ;  all  students — those 
professions  where  there  is  much  talking  and  little  exercise;  as 
clergymen,  teachers,  lawyers,  and  auctioneers.  The  last  rarely 
hnve  the  consumption,  because  they  usually  take  much  exer- 
cise and  often  speak  out  of  doors,  and  have  freely  expanded 
the  lungs  by  speaking  in  the  open  and  cold  air 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  45 

Lawyers  have  less  consumption  than  clergymen  ;  because 
they  usually  take  more  exercise  and  speak  on  a  level  or  at  the 
feet  of  their  auditors,  instead  of  being  lifted  up  into  more  rari- 
fied,  attenuated,  and  heated  air ;  as  is  the  case  with  the  clergy 
in  most  cases.  Indolence  in  all  its  forms  of  indulgence,  lessens 
the  action  of  the  lungs.  This  will  be  found  a  most  fruitful 
cause  of  consumption  in  the  easy  classes  of  the  United  States. 

The  contrast  between  the  easy  classes  in  this  country  arid 
in  England,  is  most  striking.  In  England,  all  work  almost  in- 
stinctively to  accumulate  wealth,  intending  to  retire  and  spend 
the  remainder  of  their  days  in  active  repose,  if  I  may  use  the 
expression ;  in  other  words,  to  throw  off  the  cares  of  business, 
and  enjoy  the  delights  of  out-door — of  active — of  country  ex- 
ercise, in  the  open  air ;  by  walking,as  the  first  best  exercise  ; 
next,  of  horseback  exercise  ;  next,  the  carriage  ;  lastly,  garden- 
ing and  rural  occupations,  field  sports,  the  chase,  &c. 

Nearly  every  Englishman,  however  deeply  immersed  in  bu- 
siness, in  the  most  secluded  solitude  of  London,  hopes  and  de- 
sires one  day  to  expatiate  in  the  country,  and  spread  himself 
on  broad  acres. 

In  the  United  States,  nearly  all  of  our  easy  classes  in  the 
most  active  pursuit  of  wealth,  never  think  much  of  exercise, 
or  at  any  rate,  shrink  from  the  contemplation  of  its  fatigues  and 
the  disagreeable  sacrifices  of  ease  and  personal  indulgence  it 
involves. 

Almost  all  our  gentry  perfectly  hate  a  country  life,  eschew- 
ing it  most  religiously,  if  they  have  the  means  to  live  in  the 
city.  In  very  many  cases  preferring  quite  a  mediocrity  in  the 
cities  and  villages,  to  rural  independence. 

The  result  of  this  is,  that  consumption  prevails  vastly  less 
among  the  best  classes  in  Europe,  whilst  it  is  almost  an  epi- 
demic among  the  easy  classes  in  this  country.  Many  ladies 
have  become  consumptive  from  mere  indolence.  With  these, 
a  walk  two  or  three  times  a  week,  is  thought  sufficient.  Taking 
very  little  exercise  within  doors,  the  lungs,  from  want  of  air 
and  full  exercise,  cease  to  be  expanded,  fold  up  their  air  cells, 
and  sink  into  consumption. 


46  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


Mental  emotions,  grief,  fear,  despondency,  incline  to  depress 
all  the  energies  of  the  system,  and  leave  every  part  to  be  in- 
active, in  which  the  lungs  must  participate,  and  so  must  suffer. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  a  family  losing  one  of  its  number 
by  consumption,  grief,  fear,  and  despondency  seize  upon  all  of 
them.  This  is  one  great  reason  why  consumption  will  often 
sweep  through  a  whole  family. 

Two  beautiful  young  ladies  recently  called  on  me,  one  with 
a  bad  cough,  the  other  said  to  me :  "  Our  mother  died  of  con- 
sumption last  spring;  and  since  her  death,  sister  has  given  up, 
that  she  must  die,  and  will  take  no  courage  or  do  anything  for 
herself.'7  This  is  often  the  case,  frequently  at  the  very  grave 
of  one  dead  of  consumption  ;  another  will  take  a  cough,  go 
back,  give  up  all  hope  or  effort,  and  in  a  few  months  die  of  the 
same  disease.  In  this  order  sometimes,  whole  families  will  be 
swept  away ;  at  other  times  several  will  die,  and  from  some 
hitherto  unexplained  cause,  others  of  the  same  family  will  es- 
cape tne  disease,  and  live  to  be  very  old.  One  case  I  knew, 
seven  brothers  and  sisters  died  of  consumption,  between  the 
ages  of  twenty  and  twenty-five.  Two  brothers  escaped  the 
proscription,  and  both  a  short  time  sgo  were  living,  one  at 
eighty-three,  the  other  at  eighty-five  years  of  age.  In  all  of  these 
cases  it  will  be  found,  that  the  peculiar  habits  of  those  exempted 
were  of  such  character  as  prevented  a  decline  of  the  general 
health,  and  procured  an  expansion  of  the  lungs.  Persons  in 
early  life,  predisposed  to  consumption,  often  live  to  a  great  age 
after  escaping  consumption. 

Hope  unmixed  with  fear,  is  a  great  antagonist  to  the  spread 
of  consumption.  Grief  arising  from  loss  of  children,  loss  of 
parents,  loss  of  very  dear  relatives,  loss  of  wealth,  or  even  loss 
of  health,  will  frequently  paralyze  all  the  powers  of  the  system, 
and  lead  to  an  early  decay.  For  this  reason,  when  one  of  a 
family  has  died  of  consumption,  I  recommend,  if  practicable, 
change  of  air,  change  of  location,  change  of  scene,  and  in  many 
cases  change  of  occupation.  &c. 

A  most  prolific  source  of  consumption  is  found  in  those  dis- 
eases that  break  down  the  strength  of  the  system,  and  so  pre- 
vent full  action  and  expansion  of  the  lungs. 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


TYPHUS   FEVER.— FEVER   SORES. 

Lung  fever  leads  thousands  to  consumption.  Pleurisy  im- 
perfectly cured,  leaving  pain  and  weakness  in  the  side  and 
chest,  and  often  adhesions  between  the  internal  smooth  cover- 
ing of  the  ribs,  and  the  covering  of  the  lungs,  will  take  place, 
that  greatly  prevent  an  expansion  of  the  lungs,  and  thus  lead  to 
consumption. 

Rheumatism  and  rheumatic  fevers  produce  a  great  many 
consumptions  by  breaking  down  the  general  health ,  and  thus 
preventing  a  full  expansion  ef  the  chest.  At  other  times,  the 
rheumatism  will  seat  itself  upon  the  lungs  themselves,  thus 
leading  to  consumption.  At  times  it  will  settle  between  the 
ribs  and  prevent  a  full  expansion  of  the  lungs  and  chest  on 
breathing. 

In  persons  predisposed  to  consumption,  an  attack  of  rheuma- 
tism in  the  joints,  and  the  knees,ancles,  hips,  elbows,  or  shoul- 
ders, or  a  rheumatic  fever, will  often  precurse  the  approach  of 
consumption. 

Gout,  a  disease  kindred  to  rheumatism,  at  times  locates  itself 
upon  the  lungs  and  induces  consumption.  In  these  diseases, 
large  quantities  of  chalk  are  often  deposited  in  the  air  cells  of 
the  lungs,  and  in  the  air  passages,  and  around  the  bronchical 
glands. 

Both  rheumatism  and  gout  located  upon  the  lungs,  are  indi- 
cated by  vastly  more  pain,  and  darting  sharp  pains,  and  ner- 
vous irritation,  than  in  true  scrofulous  consumption,  and  re- 
quire different  treatment. 

Scrofula  is  considered  a  principal  cause  of  tubercular  or  or- 
dinary true  consumption. 

The  whole  variety  of  diseases  designated  in  common  lan- 
guage, and  very  properly  as  a  humor,  comprising  scrofula,  salt- 
rheum,  and  all  the  varieties, of  the  skin  diseases,  canker,  hives, 
eruptions  upon  the  skin — in  the  mouth — in  the  stomach — in 
the  bowels,  &c. — from,  very  extensive  observation,  I  incline  to 
consider  as  having  one  common  origin,  only  differing  in  their 


43  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION 


appearance    by  their  difference    in  location  5  some   appearing 
most  in  winter,  others  most  in  summer. 

Scrofula  is  located  upon  the  cellular  tissue,  \vhich  is  a  cov- 
ering thrown  over  the  muscles,  or  lean  meat,  and  below  the  ex- 
ternal skin  ;  it  is  found  more  or  less  everywhere.  In  this, 
scrofulous  lumps  are  developed.  At  other  times,  this  same 
humor  will  be  found  on  the  true  skin  under  the  scarf  skin, 
producing  salt  rheum,  suddenly  going  and  coming.  At  other 
times  is  placed  immediately  below  the  true  skin,  swelling  up 
into  pimples  and  pustules,  and  discharging  matter.  At  other 
times,  causing  eruptions  of  dry  scales,  or  a  discharge  drying  off 
in  scales.  . 

These  varieties  are  not  often  seen  in  one  person,  but  at  times 
several,  or  nearly  all  seen  in  one  individual.  I  believe  all  these 
proceed  from  a  poison  generated  in  the  system  by  causes  often 
palpable,  at  other  times  not  readily  discovered.  In  proof  of 
this,  we  often  see  in  the  same  family  one  have  scrofula,  another 
salt  rheum,  another  eruptions  or  pustules,  &,c. ;  and  as  1  said 
before,  at  times  in  the  same  person  nearly  all  occur. 

These  humors  often  appear  in  infancy,go  off, and  after  some 
years  appear  upon  the  lungs,  or  throat,  or  air  pipes. 

To  treat  consumption  successfully,  all  these  humors  must  be 
well  understood. 

I  once  knew  a  lady  in  Rhode  Island,  who  was  thought  to  be 
near  her  end  with  consumption,  when  suddenly  she  became 
aff(  cted  writh  humors  all  over  her  skin  and  swelled  enormously, 
— losing  both  sight  and  hearing  for  days  by  the  swelling ; 
but  in  a  few  weeks  got  well  of  the  humor,  and  with  it  all  con- 
sumption disappeared. 

It  is  a  vast  desideratum  to  throw  the  humors  out  upon  the 
skin  ;  they  should  never  be  repelled  or  driven  in  by  washes  or 
applications  to  them  ;  I  once  knew  an  infant  of  seven  months 
die  in  its  mother's  arms  of  true  consumption  ;  beginning  with 
bleeding  at  the  lungs,  and  going  through  all  the  stages  of  con- 
sumption to  death,  produced  by  driving  in  salt  rheum  ;  it.  had 
salt  rheum  upon  its  face;  the  physician  injudiciously  applied 
a  solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  which  cured  it  on  its  face,  but 
drove  it  to  its  lungs,  and  thus  produced  consumption  and  dealh. 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  49 

This  humor,  in  one  or  all  its  varieties,  often  locates  itself  upon 
the  throat,  the  wind -pipe,  the  larger  and  smaller  air  passages 
of  the  lungs,  and  in  the  air  cells,  and  in  the  substance  of  the 
lungs.  In  our  enquiries  into  the  causes  of  consumption,  refe- 
rence should  always  be  had  to  the  subject  of  skin  diseases,  or 
scrofula,  because  they  so  often  locate  themselves  upon  the  lungs. 
They  are  always  easily  cured,  and  entirely  driven  from  the 
system,  if  properly  managed  and  in  season.  They  are  one  ex- 
ceedingly prolific  cause  of  consumption. 

INHALING  DUST,  METALS,  ETC. 

Inhaling,  or  drawing  in  of  large  quantities  of  dust,  will  cause 
this  to  be  deposited  upon  the  lungs,  and  thus  by  mechanical 
irritation,  lead  to  consumption.  This  is  seen  in  stone  cutters, 
millers,  dry  grinding  of  metals,  pickers  and  sorters  of  rags  for 
paper  making,  and  many  others.  I  once  knew  a  case  of  a  stone 
and  marble  cutter,  who  died  suddenly.  His  chest  was  opened, 
and  it  was  found  that  a  large  proportion  of  both  lungs  was  so 
impregnated  with  stone  dust,  as  to  have  caused  his  death.  Thic 
case  occurred  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

IRREGULARITIES   IN  DIET. 

Long  continued  irregularities  in  diet,  either  too  low  or  too 
high  living,  will  break  down  and  effeminate  the  system,  and  in 
persons  predisposed  to  consumption,  will  often  induce  it;  but 
low  living  sooner  breaks  down  the  system  and  produces  con- 
sumption,  than  high  living. 

DYSPEPSIA. 

Dyspepsia  and  imperfect  digestion  of  the  food  is  a  very  com- 
mon cause  of  debility  of  the  system,  and  breaking  down  of  the 
powers  of  the  constitution.  Dyspepsia  also  greatly  injur^!:  Jna 
pirity  and  quality  of  the  blood,  and  in  this  way.  leads  *:>  iz<* 
creation  of  humors  and  the  production  of  consumption. 


50  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


LIVER  COMPLAINT.  — CHRONIC   DIARRHCEA.- 
COSTIVENESS. 

Liver  complaint,  chronic  diarrhcea,costiveness,  all  are  among 
the  causes  that  injure  the  constitution  and  general  health,  and 
in  this  way  lead  to  consumption.  These  subjects  will  be  re- 
ferred to  again,  in  another  place. 

DISEASES   OF  THE    THROAT,   ETC. 

Diseases  of  the  throat  often  cause  consumption.  Inflammation, 
and  ulceration  of  the  wind-pipe,  and  parts  about  the  vocal  organs, 
at  the  top  of  the  wind -pipe,  often  cause  consumption,  by  the 
great  debility  which  this  causes,  and  often  by  the  great  debility 
of  the  wind-pipe,  preventing  anything  like  vigorous  breathing  or 
respiration.     This  disorder  is  attended  with  hoarseness,   and 
weakness  of  the  voice,  more  or  less  ;  often  attended  with  a  total 
loss  of  voice,  great  dryness  and  heat  in  the  throat,  and  pain  !n 
the  throat  on  speaking  or  reading  aloud ;  clergymen  are  often 
subject  to  this  disease.     It  is  extremely  rare  that  the  wind-pipe 
alone  is  affected  ;  but  in  nearly  all  cases  of  throat  disease,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  lungs  are  also  much  affected.     In  some  cases 
the  wind-pipe  partially  closes,  and  at  other  times  dreadful  spasmr 
attack  the  throat.     When  spasms  attack  the  throat, so  as  to  pro- 
duce temporary  suspension  of  breathing,  the  chest  will  rapidly 
enlarge, and  all  lung  difficulties  in  some  cases  will  soon  be  re 
moved.     I  saw  a  striking  case  of  this  in  the  hospital  in  London 
A  man  came   into  the   hospital,  in  an  advanced  stage  of  con 
sumption,  his  lungs  badly  ulcerated,  his  chest  very  contracted, 
and  greatly  emaciated.     He  had  not  been  long  in  the  hospital 
before  he  was  attacked  with  an  inflammation  of  the  wind-pipe 
which  was  soon  attended  with  most  dreadful  spasms.     In  those- 
fits,  his  breathing  would  stop  ;  his  chest  heave   as  if  a  rope 
were  tied  around  his  neck;  he  would  at  times  be  a  whole  mi 
nute  without    breathing.     These    spasms    on    his  wind -pipe, 
caused  a  most  rapid  enlargement  of  his  chest ;  all  symptoms  07 
pulmonary  or  lung  consumption   soon  disappeared  j  his  ches/ 
became  enormously  enlarged. 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  51 


TOO  MUCH   CLOTHING. 

Great  effeminacy  of  the  constitution,  and  consequent  ten* 
dency  to  consumption,  is  often  induced  by  our  treatment  of  the 
surface  of  the  frame.  Too  much  clothing  greatly  inclines  to 
debilitate  the  system,  and  lead  to  effeminacy.  Suppose  a  per- 
son were  to  put  his  hand  in  a  poultice,  and  keep  that  poultice  . 
on  for  some  weeks  5  on  removing  the  poultice,  the  hand  would 
feel  as  if  it  had  no  skin  upon  it ;  so  sensible  would  it  be  to  the 
external  air.  Too  much  clothing  has  the  same  effect.  It 
greatly  effeminates  the  system,  and  makes  it  so  delicate  that  it 
cannot  bear  the  least  exposure  whatever.  Each  successive  ad- 
dition to  our  clothing,  beyond  the  point  of  health,  instead  of 
destroying  the  influence  of  cold,  makes  us  more  susceptible  to 
its  injurious  effects,  and  infinitely  more  liable  to  those  diseases 
that  proceed  from  change  of  temperature. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  two  physicians  who  are  now 
living  in  the  same  village,  near  the  borders  of  Canada,  about 
the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude  ;  a  climate  very  cold  for  nearly 
six  months  in  the  year.  One  of  these  gentlemen  is  about  six- 
ty-five years  old,  the  other  is  about  forty-five.  Some  years  ago, 
these  gentlemen  entered  into  partnership  in  the  practice  of  me- 
dicine ;  the  young  physician,  on  first  calling  upon  the  old  phy- 
sician, found  him  about  to  ride  out  in  his  sleigh  to  visit  his  pa- 
tients. It  was  very  cold  weather  ;  the  young  man  expressed 
great  surprise  at  the  insufficiency  of  the  old  gentleman's  clothing. 
"  What  do  you  mean  1"  said  the  old  doctor.  -  u  I  have  on  my 
hat,  my  great-coat,  and  my  mittens ;  what  more  do  1  want  1" 
The  health  of  the  old  physician  was  perfect.  The  young  gen- 
tleman was  a  show  in  some  respects,  and  a  fair  representative  of 
most  effeminate  people  ;  rather  large  and  tall  in  person,  he  had 
on  :i]\  the  clothing  he  could  put  on  for  his  daily  in-door  dress. 
Now  talking  to  the  old  doctor,  he  had  on  a  surtout  coat,  then  a 
great-coat,  then  a  cloak  ;  on  his  feet  he  had  stockings,  boots, 
and  overshoes  ;  over  his  cravat  he  wore  a  thick  woolen  scarf, 
or  shawl,  that  muffled  up  his  throat,  chin  and  nose,  nearly  to 
his  eyes.  On  his  head  he  wore  a  fur  cap,  which  came  down 


52  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

nearly  to  his  eyes.  In  these  envelopes  he  hoped,  and  fully  be- 
hev.  d  that  he  could  exclude  all  cold,  and  fully  prevent  its  in 
jmious  effects  upon  his  system.  The  health  of  the  old  physi- 
cian was  perfect  ,  the  younger  one  was  sick  nearly  every  win- 
ter with  lung  fever,  or  some  disturbance  of  his  lungs.  The  old 
man  told  me  it  took  him  two  years,  by  precept  and  example, 
before  he  could  get  the  young  man  to  reduce  the  amount  of  his 
clothing  to  the  standard  of  health  5  when  this  was  accomplished 
the  constitution  of  the  young  man  improved,  and  his  health  be- 
came perfect. 

There  is  an  amount  of  clothing  that  is  the  point  of  health ; 
it  no  doubt  differs  in  some  persons;  the  best  rule  is  to  wear  as 
little  as  possible  consistently  with  comfort.  It  should  never 
be  worn  with  an  eye  to  health,  but  to  comfort.  The  first  set- 
tlers of  this  country,  and  for  several  generations  after  its  early 
settlement,  were  a  very  hardy  race ;  consumption  with  them 
was  very  rare ;  had  they  have  been  obliged  to  wear  as  much 
clothing  as  we  now  wear,  the  country  never  could  have  bee*h 
settled.  These  remarks  are  applicable  to  all  or  nearly  all  of 
the  present  settlers  of  the  new  parts  of  our  growing  country. 

Sudden  reductions  of  clothing  should  not  be  made  in  cold 
weather ;  but  should  be  commenced  in  warm  weather,  and  care- 
fully proceeded  with  until  the  point  of  health  is  found.  Too 
much  clothing  is  highly  injurious  to  the  constitutions  of  chil- 
dren. The  rule  with  them,  as  with  all,  is  to  wear  as  little  as 
possible,  consistent  with  comfort ;  and  never  worn  as  a  curative 
remedy.  At  all  times  neither  our  clothing  nor  our  rooms 
should  be  warm  enough  to  make  us  perspire,  whilst  at  rest. 
This  holds  good  also  with  our  bedclothing  ;  nor  should  the 
warmth  of  our  clothes  nor  the  heat  of  our  rooms  make  us  feel 
uncomfortably  warm  :  health  requires  us  always  to  keep  rather 
cool. 

Effeminacy  caused  by  leaving  active  or  invigorating ,  em- 
tlcyment,  for  sedentary,  in-door  and  efiemi?iating  ones. 

A  most  frequent  cause  of  consumption,  in  those  predisposed 
to  it,  and  if  noc  predisposed  to  it,  will,  in  a  multitude  of  cases, 
cause  predisposition,  is  leaving  active,  out-door,  invigorating 
employments,  for  in-door  and  effeminating  ones.  Our  cities, 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  53 

our  large  towns,  our  manufactories,  our  workshops,  our  count- 
ing houses,  the  professions  of  law,  physic,  and  divinity,  are 
nearly  all  filled  by  persons  who  were  the  children  of  farmers, 
and  in  their  early  lives  sharing  in  all  the  toils,  the  exposure 
and  the  invigorating  pursuits  of  agriculture,  and  ail  its  once 
affiliated  or  kindred  occupations.  The  consequence  is,  that 
great  multitudes  of  both  sexes  fall  victims  to  consumption, 
who  otherwise  never  would  have  had  it.  The  banishment  of 
the  old-fashioned  large  spinning  wheel,  from  our  farmers'  homes, 
and  leaving  the  daughters  in  comparative  idleness,  or  sending 
them  to  work  in  manufactories,  has  tended  vastly  to  spread  the 
ravages  of  consumption.  Again  :  we  may  often  see  fathers, 
whose  children  are  consumptive,  devoting  them  to  the  most 
sedentary  arid  debilitating  occupations,  and  encouraging  the 
heaviest  tasks,  or  permitting  it.  These  remarks  are  particu- 
larly applicable  to  all  parts  of  New  England.  To  illustrate 
this  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  introduce  a  few  cases  of  this 
kind,  which  fully  explain  all  I  can  say  on  this  subject. 

In  Feb.  184-4*,  1  was  consulted  by  a  lady  in  Boston,  who  was 
hastening  from  New  Hampshire  to  Virginia,  to  attend  a  young 
man  who  had  gone  there  in  ill  health.  He  was  the  only  son  of 
a  wealthy  farmer  in  New  Hampshire,  who  kept  his  son  on  his 
farm  as  much  as  possible,  and  at  the  same  time  undertook  to 
give  him  an  education.  The  boy  went  to  school  winters,  and 
worked  on  the  farm  summers,  until  he  was  seventeen  years 
old  ;  then,  instead  of  going  to  school,  he  taught  school  and^pur- 
sued  his  studies  out  of  school  hours.  After  two  or  three  years,  he 
was  prepared  to  enter  Dartmouth  College,  still  teaching  school 
winters,  and  attending  college  in  the  spring  and  fall  months  ; 
but  working  at  home  on  the  farm  in  having  and  harvesting. 
This  terrible  course  of  efFeminatins:  and  exhaustin^  labor  soon 

o  O 

broke  his  health.  He  was  predisposed  to  consumption  by 
family  .taint ;  his  mother  having  died  of  it.  Its  early  symp- 
toms soon  began  to  appear.  He  was  sent  to  the  south  to  im- 
prove his  health  and  teach  school.  This  course  soon  completed 
its  work.  The  lady,  on  arriving  in  Virginia,  found  her  young 
relative  dead  of  consumption,  and  he  the  only  son  of  a  rich 
father.  The  southern  people,  when  they  see  these  multiplied 


54  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


cases  among  them  of  young  persons  of  reputedly  rich  parents, 
cannot  but  think  that  the  New  England  mind  is  the  very  acme 
of  meanness-  Another  case  I  will  give  of  a  similar  character.  1 
was  consulted  in  October  of  1844,  by  a  young  gentleman  in 
one  of  the  richest  country  towns  in  Connecticut.  He  was  a 
line  looking,  genteel  young  man  ;  his  first  remark  was,  "  I  have 
called  to  ask  you  how  long  I  have  to  live  :"  not  believing  that 
he  could  live  long.  He  was  an  only  son.  His  mother  died  of 
consumption,  leaving  one  son  and  two  daughters,  one  of  whom 
had  also  died  of  consumption.  The  son  graduated  at  l?ale  Col 
lege,  then  studied  law  in  the  Law  School  in  Albany.  On  clo 
sing  his  law  studies,  he  settled  in  New  York ;  not  getting  law 
business  as  fast  as  he  desired,  he  took  a  situation  as  book-keeper 
in  a  wholesale  store  :  staid  there  until  pulmonary  symptoms 
began  to  appear,  then  went  home  :  change  of  air  and  occupa- 
tion soon  restored  his  health,  and  now  he  takes  a  school  for  oc- 
cupation ;  in  three  months,  bleeding  at  the  lungs  showed  that 
consumption  had  began  its  work  in  earnest.  •  He  relinquished 
his  school,  and  passed  six  months  of  unmitigated  distress  in  an- 
ticipating an  early  and  certain  death.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  re- 
storing him  to  perfect  health  by  God's  blessing.  No  danger 
need  he  ever  apprehend  from  consumption,  if  he  follows  faith- 
fully the  directions.  His  father  is  a  very  wealthy  man. 

I  will  still  trouble  you  with  one  case  more.  I  was  consulted 
in  May,  1844,  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  by  a  young  man 
in  the  very  last  stages  of  consumption.  He  was  brought  up  to 
farming  pursuits  and  active  out-door  occupations  until  twenty- 
two  years  of  age  ;  then  desiring  an  easier  employment  and 
higher  wages,  he  came  from  the  country  to  Springfield,  and 
hired  himself  to  a  confectioner,  and  worked  in  a  basement, 
almost  a  cellar,  over  kettles  of  boiling  sugar  and  boiling  syrups 
most  of  the  time  inhaling  a  bad  air,  and  covered  with  profuse 
perspiration.  In  seventeen  months  he  died  of  consumption 
These  cases  will  suffice  to  point  out  the  terrible  effects  of  leav- 
ing out-door  occupations,  and  choosing  exhausting  and  debili- 
tating employments  within  doors.  If  predisposed  to  consumption, 
your  fate  is  certain  ;  if  not  predisposed,  a  predisposition  may  be 
induced  by  these  exhausting  drains  upon  the  vital  energies. 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  65 


CLIMATE   PREDISPOSING  TO  CONSUMPTION. 

Allow  me  to  say  a  word  or  two  on  climate,  and  some  states 
of  the  atmosphere,  as  under  some  circumstances  predisposing 
to  consumption.  Consumption  prevails  most  in  dark,  damp, 
cool  climates  ;  such  as  that  of  Scotland  and  England  ;  but  cli- 
mate alone  never  will  cause  consumption,  and  never  did.  In 
Scotland,  and  some  parts  of  Wales,  consumption  is  almost  epi- 
demic. Its  highlands  and  sea  coasts  are  dark,  cold  and  cloudy ; 
but  in  the  early  periods  of  Scottish  history,  its  population  was 
a  most  hardy  race.  Effeminacy  almost  unknown  in  both  sexes. 
Then,  consumption  was  almost  unknown ;  now,  half  of  its 
adult  population,  when  they  die,  die  its  victims.  Climate  can 
only  concur  with  other  causes  in  producing  consumption. 

Light  and  dry  climates  are  least  predisposing  to  lung  dis 
eases  ;  such  as  the  climates  of  Siberia  and  Cuba^.     No  mor** 
deaths  take  place,nor  as  many, from  consumption  in  Siberia,  as 
in  Cuba. 

Consumption  was  an  exceedingly  rare  disease  in  Canada  for 
many  generations,  until  they  became  an  effeminate  race.  It  is 
now  frequent.  Cold  is  not  a  cause,  nor  does  it  cause  predisposi- 
tion to  consumption,  as  is  commonly  thought.  In  fact,  cold  dry 
air  is  most  healthy  and  beneficial  to  the  lungs.  But  cold  may 
act  to  such  an  extent  as  to  enfeeble  and  break  down  the  system, 
and  then  like  other  debilitating  causes,  it  may  predispose  to  con- 
sumption. Of  all  the  predisposing  causes,  the  effects  of  cold 
are  most  easily  obviated. 

I  had  the  honor  of  a  personal  acquaintance,  for  many  years, 
with  Dr.  Stuart,  Lord  Bishop  of  Quebec.  In  his  old  age  and 
enfeebled  by  disease,  his  duties  compelled  him  to  pass  alternate- 
ly his  winters  in  Quebec  and  Toronto.  In  Quebec,  the  cold  is 
incessant,  steady  and  dry,  for  nearly  six  months,  with  very  few 
changes  or  fluctuations  of  temperature.  The  air  is  dry  and 
bracing.  In  Toronto,  the  air  is  mild,  damp,  and  subject  to  great 
and  sudden  changes  of  temperature.  Dr.  Stuart  told  me  that 
he  much  preferred  residing  in  Quebec.  Consumption  is  much 
less  frequent  in  Quebec  than  in  Toronto,  all  things  considered 


56  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

Obstructed  perspiration,  or  a  common  cold  a  cause  of  con" 
sumption. 

A  common  cold  is  a  frequent  cause  of  consumption.  Although 
in  my  remarks  on  diseases  that  cure  consumption,  I  shall  refer 
to  a  cold  as  at  times  curing,  instead  of  producing  consumption 
vet  it  much  oftener  produces  than  cures  consumption.  Th 
first  attacks  of  cold  very  rarely  produce  consumption  unless  in 
lungs  highly  predisposed  and  prepared  for  it.  There  are  many 
persons  who  will  have  a  cold  in  cold  weather  which  will  last 
two  or  four  weeks,  and  go  off.  The  next  winter  they  will  last 
live  or  six  weeks ;  and  so  increase  in  intensity  and  continuance 
in  successive  winters,  until  a  cough  lasts  nearly  all  the  year, 
and  consumption  is  the  result.  Cold  produces  consumption  by 
obstructing  the  pores  of  the  skin,  and  the  fluids  which  should 
pass  by  the  skin  are  thrown  upon  the  lungs.  The  lungs  be- 
come gorged  with  blood  ,  the  air  cells  nearly  closed.  Nature 
to  retrieve  herself  sets  up  a  secretion  of  phlegm  more  or  less 
watery,  that  is  thrown  off  in  greater  or  less  quantities  from  the 
skin  that  lines  and  covers  the  walls  of  the  air  pipes  and  air 
cells.  Should  these  secretions  continue  long  and  be  profuse 
the  system  sinks  into  consumption  by  the  great  debility  of  the 
lungs,  and  engorgement  of  blood  and  mucus  and  ulcerated  se- 
cretions. What  is  called  quick  consumption,  is  usually  in  the 
beginning  only  a  common  cold. 

CATARRH. 

Catarrh  is  a  form  of  cold  that  is  located  chiefly  on  the  internal 
lining  of  the  nose,  extending  up  between  the  bony  plates 
above  the  eye-brows ;  at  times  occasioning  most  intense  head 
ache  and  dullness  about  the  head  and  eyes.  Oftentimes  the 
discharges  are  very  copious.  Occasionally  it  extends  all  over  \ 
the  back  of  the  throat  and  parts  about  the  palate,  reaching  along 
the  passage  back  to  the  internal  ear,  and  producing  at  first  dull- 
ness of  hearing  and  finally  deafness.  The  discharges  will  often 
drop  from  the  back  end  of  the  nostrils  into  the  wind-pipe,  pro- 
ducing constant  hawking  and  raising  of  offensive  mucus. — 
Sometimes  the  catarrh  spreads  down  the  wind-pipe  and  along 
the  air  pipes  to  the  top  of  the  lungs,  when  pain,  tightness  and 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  57 

sti  »cture  is  often  felt — also  producing  a  cough  and  raising  nearly 
the  same  matter  as  is  discharged  from  the  nose.  Catarrh  dif- 
fers ft-om  a  common  cold  by  its  longer  continuance,  almost  total 
absence  of  any  fever,  and  by  its  offensive  smelling  discharges, 
rarely  ever  found  in  ordinary  cold.  I  think  it  is  produced  by 
a  humor  or  sort  of  skin  disease,  that  spreads  wherever  the 
catarrh  is  experienced,  and  is  its  exciting  and  continuing  cause. 
Catarrh  is  very  curable  and  all  its  unpleasant  consequences 
easily  removed.  It  is  often  a  cause  of  noises  in  the  head,  ring- 
ing in  the  ears,  and  great  oppression  about  the  head,  causing 
deafness.  It  at  times  deranges  the  general  health  so  much  as 
to  prepare  the  way  for  pulmonary  consumption.  At  times 
catarrh  cures  consumption. 

INFLUENZA. 

Among  the  exciting  causes  of  consumption,  ard  one  that 
weakens  and  irritates  the  lungs  as  much  as  any  other,  is  influ- 
enza. It  is  a  terrible  disease.  Its  occurrence  in  summer  is  a 
frightful  calamity,  as  it  lays  the  foundation  for  thousands  of 
consumptions.  Influenza  will  render  the  strongest  lungs  i:\ 
persons  no  \vay  inclined  to  consumption,  highly  predisposed  to 
it.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  a  summer  cold  or  an  influenza 
in  summer,  is  much  more  liable  to  produce  consumption  than 
if  it  takes  place  in  winter.  No  relics  of  influenza  should  be 
allowed  to  remain,  but  it  should  be  done  away  by  exercise, 
bathing  and  the  inhaling  tube. 

HEREDITARY    CONSUMPTION. 

]n  speaking  to  you  of  the  causes  of  pulmonary  consumption, 
it  is  proper  that  I  should  speak  to  you  of  hereditary  consump- 
tion. Hereditary  taint  is  often  spoken  of  as  a  cause  of  con- 
sumption. I  do  not  think  because  our  parents  die  of  any 
disease,  that  we  must  necessarily  have  it,  whether  there  is  a 
predisposition  to  consumption,  can  -er,  or  any  other  disease. 
It  is  a  very  curious  fact  that  children  are  copies  of  their 
parents,  more  or  less  frequently,  in  each  minute  particular  j 


58  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

both  in  external  formation,  and  the  most  intricate  peculiarities 
of  the  constitution. 

I  once  knew  a  case  of  a  man,  who  after  marriage,  and  having 
two  healthy  children,  lost  by  injury  the  use  of  his  right  arm, 
that  gradually  withered  away  to  mere  skin  and  bone  with  no 
power  in  it.  He  had  two  children  born  after  this  accident,  and 
both  had  withered  arms. 

Persons  born  of  parents  who  are  consumptive,  only  inherit 
a  predisposition  to  this  disease,  and  sooner  fall  into  consumption 
from  any  of  the  active  causes  1  have  before  mentioned,  than  if 
their  parents  had  been  free  from  consumptive  complaints.  This 
strongly  indicates  to  them  the  necessity  of  avoiding  all  the 
predisposing  causes  of  consumption  I  have  enumerated.  Great- 
er care  is  required  of  these  in  forming  and  keeping  a  fine  chest 
and  lungs.  They  should  also  recollect  that  they  should  sooner 
adopt  preventive  remedies,  and  longer  continue  the  precau- 
tions I  shall  hereafter  point  out.  Disease  in  them  is  more  rapid 
and  sooner  fatal  than  in  persons  of  healthy  parents.  That  their 
lungs  will  bear  vastly  less  disease  and  are  cured  with  greater 
difficulty  than  if  not  predisposed.  Therefore  they  should  take 
earlier  remedies  in  their  cure.  It  must  be.  agreeable  to  the 
consumptively  disposed,  to  know  that  of  all  the  diseases  to 
which  we  are  or  can  be  predisposed  by  hereditary  taint,  that 
the  seeds  of  consumption  are  easiest  eradicated  and  most  per- 
fectly obliterated  from  the  constitution. 

Persons  not  hereditarily  predisposed  to  consumption,  may 
become  predisposed  to  it,  by  long  suffering  under  any  of  the 
causes  I  have  mentioned,  as  inclining  us  to  consumption  j  so 
that  no  person,  whether  predisposed  or  not,  should  allow  any 
circumstances  tending  to  consumption  to  be  acting  upon  him, 
if  possible  to  prevent  it.  That  it  can  always  be  prevented,  will 
be  shown  in  the  lecture  on  prevention  and  cure  of  consumption. 

SPINAL   DISEASES. 

Spinal  diseases  often  lead  to  diseased  lungs,  by  the  great  de- 
bility they  produce.  This  debility  preventing  a  full  free  ex- 
ercise and  expansion  of  the  lungs.  The  ancient  writers  on  the 
lungs  and  consumption,  make  a  consumption  of  the  back  or 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  59 


spine.  A  vast  many  persons  allow  pain  to  continue  along  time 
in  the  spine,  between  the  shoulders  in  the  neck,  and  particu- 
larly in  the  lowest  portions  of  the  back -bone,  hips,  and  ex- 
treme end  of  the  back-bone ;  sometimes  attended  with  heat,  at 
other  times  not ;  sometimes  tender  to  the  touch,  at  other  times 
a  cold  spot,  &c. ;  curvatures  of  the  spine,  &c.  In  a  vast  many 
cases,  and  probably  quite  a  large  majority  of  the  cases,  there  is 
no  actual  disease  of  the  spine ;  but  those  pains  originate  from 
loss  of  symmetry,  as  I  shall  explain  in  subsequent  lectures. 

From  whatever  cause  produced,  the  effect  is  very  injurious 
upon  all  the  general  functions  of  the  system,  and  should  receive 
early  attention.' 

PAIN   IN   THE    SIDE. 

Pain  in  the  side,  or  its  cause,  often  by  organic  changes,  or 
by  producing  inability  or  an  indisposition  ^o  expand  the  chest, 
will  at  last  injure  the  lungs  in  many  cases,  and  should  not  be 
allowed,  but  should  be  cured. 

KIDNEY   AFFECTIONS. 

It  is  the  office  of  the  kidneys  to  separate  the  salts  and  earths, 
and  much  water  from  the  blood ;  their  office  is  most  important, 
and  if  not  properly  performed,  have  a  tendency  most  injurious 
to  the  lungs.  Occasionally  in  consumption,  little  or  no  cough, 
or  expectoration,  is  observed  ;  but  all  the  matter  that  should  be 
raised  by  coughing  is  carried  off  by  the  kidneys.  This  is  a 
most  important  hint  for  the  treatment  of  consumption,  as  it  in- 
dicates the  use  of  kidney  medicines,  or  such  as  shall  produce  a 
free  flow  of  urine. 

GRAVEL. 

Gravel,  if  present,  so  as  to  produce  much  stoppage  of  urine, 
or  cause  it  to  be  scanty,  and  thick, with  settlings,  upon  standing 
a  short  time,  or  very  high  and  dark  colored,  will  often  predis- 
pose to  a  cough,  and  increased  expectoration  from  the  lungs. 
It  is  a  most  important  state  of  things,  and  should  receive  our 
earliest  attention.  Too  much  urine,  especially  if  it  is  sweet, 
inclines  to  debility  and  consumption. 


CO  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


Costiveness  is  also  a  frequent  cause  of  debility  and  unhealthy 

action  in  the  lungs.     In  both  gravel  and  costiveness,  the  fluids 

that  should  pass  by  the  kidneys  and  bowels   are  thrown  upon 

the  lungs  and  skin  ;  in  many  cases  causing  engorgement  of  the 

lungs,  and   a  strong  tendency  to  consumption.     I  rarely  ever 

ecollect  to  have  noticed  bleeding  from  the  lungs,  unless  cos- 

iveness  was  present.     In  a  future  lecture,  I  will  speak  again 

upon  this  subject. 

Luxurious  and  high  living,  if  at  the  same  time  accompanied 
by  a  change  from  active  to  sedentary  life,  will  often  induce  ra 
pid  consumption.  Among  the  articles  of  diet  that  I  think  often 
very  injurious,  is  indulging  in  large  quantities  of  coffee,  hot, 
cold,  &c.  Also  high-seasoned  food,  pastry,  and  meat,  and 
greatly  diminished  exercise,  and  confinement  within  -  doors. 
Sitting  up  late  at  Rights,  &c.,  &c.,  will  readily  predispose  to 
consumption  in  a  vast  many  persons.  I  cannot  better  illus- 
trate what  I  mean,  than  by  giving  you  one  or  two  cases. 
Whilst  in  Virginia,  last  summer,  a  gentleman  called  on  me, 
and  mentioned  the  extraordinary  mortality  from  consumption, 
that  prevailed  in  some  parts  of  the  south.  He  said  that  of 
late,  within  a  very  few  years,  consumption  had  become  very 
common  on  the  southern  plantations,  among  the  slaves,  and 
especially,  almost  exclusively  among  the  house  servants.  He 
told  me  that  thirty-five  years  ago,  consumption  was  almost 
unknown  among  their  slaves;  that  those  slaves  lived  on  the 
simplest  diet,  consisting  of  milk,  vegetables,  salt  bacon,  no 
tea  or  coffee.  The  very  mention  of  these  last  would  have 
seemed  supremely  ridiculous.  Now  those  house  servants  on 
many  estates  are  treated  to  the  most  luxurious  diet.  Coffee 
as  much  as  they  choose  to  drink,  two  or  three  times  a  day ; 
also  large  quantities  of  fresh  and  salt  meat,  fine  bread,  &c.  j 
very  little  labor  is  expected  of  them ;  they  take  little  exer- 
cise, and  that  at  the  slowest  rate,  uniting  at  once,  indolence, 
luxury,  and  effeminacy ;  the  consequence  is  exactly  what  I 
have  before  mentioned.  The  production  and  development  of 
tubercles,  or  true  consumption  in  its  worst  form,  running  its 
whole  course,  from  beginning  to  death,  in  about  twelve  weeks ; 
the  c~;3G3  occurring  with  frightful  frequency.  The  last  year,  on 


CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION.  61 

one  plantation,  out  of  eighty  persons,  seventeen  died  of  con- 
sumption, within  twelve  months.  Hands  perfectly  well  in 
field  labor,  but  removed  from  the  field  to  the  house  to  supply 
the  place  of  those  who  had  died,  would,  after  a  few  weeks'  re- 
pose, confinement,  and  diet,  such  as  I  have  before  named,  he- 
gin  to  sicken,  and  soon  die.  No  cure  was  found,  but  at  once 
on  the  appearance  of  cough  or  debility,  to  send  them  to»their 
field  labor,  and  simple  diet.  This  if  early  adopted  usually  ef- 
fected a  cure. 

INJURIOUS  MEDICINES. 

Medicines  that  incline  us  to  consumption. — I  have  before 
told  you  how  little  was  known  correctly  of  the  lungs,  and  the 
true  causes  of  consumption  ;  owing  to  this,  a  great  many  medi- 
cines and  medical  remedies  are  often  used,  thit  instead  of 
curing,  rapidly  and  surely  incline  to  produce  consumption.  I 
can  only  mention  a  few  of  them. 

MERCURY. 

At  the  head  of  all  these  is  mercury.  In  all  its  preparations, 
or  different  modes  of  giving  it,  salivation  in  some  states  of  the 
kings  is  as  certainly  fatal  as  the  dagger  or  pistol ;  in  some  sec- 
tions of  our  country,  calomel, as  it  is.  giv«  n,  is  a  most  dreadful 
scourge.  In  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  cities,  towns, 
villages,  and  country,  are  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  living 
men,  women,  arid  children;  whilst  the  graveyards  conceal  the 
decaying  remains  of  thousands  killed  by  mercury.  This  is  not 
everywhere  the  case.  I  am  most  happy  to  present  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  .as  an  exception  ;  more  calomel  is  consumed  by 
some  small  towns  in  New  England,  than  by  the  whole  city  ot 
Philadelphia.  Every  consumptive  should  understand,  that  wln-u 
he  takes  calomel,  uncombined  blue  pills,  &c.,  he  does  it  at  the 
risk  of  his  life.  There  is  no  doubt  that  mercury  will  remain 
m  the  system,  many  years  after  it  is  taken,  and  produces  inju- 
rious effects  even  twenty  years  after  it  has  been  swallowed  or 
ruobed  into  the  skin. 


62  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

If  tubercles  exist  in  the  lungs,  calomel  softens  and  inflames 
them,  and  thus  developes  consumption.  Calomel  administered 
to  the  children  of  consumptive  parents,  is  very  liable  to  bring 
on  consumption.  I  think  in  nearly  every  case  of  consumption 
in  children,  it  is  produced  by  calomel. 

OPIUM. 

Opium  in  all  its  preparations,  as  far  as  my  observations  go,  is 
very  injurious  to  consumptive  lungs,  and  should  be  avoided.  It 
may  still  the  cough  a  little,  but  it  soon  returns  with  greater  vio- 
lence. No  cure  will  go  on  under  the  influence  of  opium.  It  pre- 
vents a  cure,  causes  night  sweats,  closes  all  the  secretions  save  of 
the  skin,  constipates  the  bowels,  destroys  the  appetite,  confuses 
the  mind,  and  wholly  breaks  down  the  nervous  system..  Now,  in 
consumption,  it  is  of  the  last  importance  that  the  nervous  sys- 
tem should  be  kept  in  the  greatest  strength  and  composure.  I 
never  give  any  of  it  in  any  form,  not  even  in  the  smallest  doses. 

EMETICS. 

Emetics  often  do  great  injury  to  the  consumptive  ;  especially 
those  of  a  debilitating  class, as  emetic  tartar.  Ipecac  and  lobe- 
lia, &c.,  are  not  so  objectionable.  I  scarcely  use  any  emetics. 

BLISTERS  AND    SORES   UPON   THE    CHEST. 

• 
These  I  rarely  use.     I  have  often  seen  blisters  and  tartar 

emetic  sores  hurry  consumptives  to  a  premature  grave.  They 
prevent  free  breathing  and  expansion  of  the  chest,  very  much 
debilitate  the  patients,  make  them  excessively  nervous,  &c.  I 
have  seen  very  horrible  sores  produced  on  the  patient's  chest, 
even  within  five  days  before  death.  In  seated  consumption, 
blisters  and  sores  can  be  of  little  use ;  and  in  the  latter  stages, 
are  most  pernicious.  These,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  are  most 
of  the  leading  causes  of  consumption.  Nearly  all  tending  to 
one  primary  effect:  —  to  prevent  a  free  exercise  of  the  lungs, 
and  perfect  expansion  of  their  air  cells,  and  of  course  the  whole 
chest 


PLATE    F 


1.  Consumptive  chest  and  figure. 

2.  Not  consumptive. 


LECTURE   SECOND, 

PREVENTION   AND  CURE  OF   CONSUMPTION, 

LADIES   AND  GENTLEMEN: 

THE  subject  of  this  lecture  can  hardly  be  surpassed  in  its  im- 
portance Nearly,  or  fully  one-third  of  the  deaths  of  adults  in 
this  country,  arise  from  consumption,  or  diseases  of  the  chest 
These  diseases  are  eminently  curable  in  themselves,  and  only 
require  the  aid  of  judicious  knowledge,  and  such  true  remedies 
as  actually  exist.  The  reason  why  these  diseases  are  so  often 
finally  incurable,  is  not  because  they  are  so  in  themselves,  bu 
arises  from  our  ignorance.  Misconception  and  ignorance  of 
chest  diseases,  prevails  to  an  enormous  extent,  and  hence  arises 
their  far  spreading  and  overwhelming  fatality.  It  is  preposte 
rous  to  suppose  that  a  wise  and  good  God  would  create  us  sc 
imperfectly  that  a  disease  can  arise  in  its  nature  incurable,  anc 
that  may  sweep  away  the  whole  human  family.  I  propose  tc 
mention  to  you,  in  the  first  place,  some  of  those  diseases  tha 
cure  consumption,  or  at  least  prevent  its  progress  and  fatal  ter- 
mination. 

DISEASES    THAT   CURE    CONSUMPTION. 

The  first  of  these  which  I  will  mention,  are  diseases  of  the 
heart.  1  will  observe  that  those  diseases  which  cure  consump 
tion  are  those  that  in  their  commencement  and  progress  enlarg' 
the  chest.  Diseases  of  the  heart  are  usually  of  this  class  ;  SucI 
affections  as  are  attended  with  enlargement  of  the  heart,  anc 
great  palpitation,  are  those  which  mostly  relieve  the  lungs 
By  retarding  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  the  lungs,  as  well  a 
the  heart,  become  greatly  enlarged.  In  all  cases,  enlargernen 
and  irregul-o*  action  of  the  heart,  although  distressing,  still  re 
tard  consumption  and  often  cure  it. 


DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION.  65 

I  will  mention  a  few  cases.  In  the  summer  of  the  year  184*3, 
I  lectured  at  Saratoga.  The  day  after  my  first  lecture,  as  1 
was  walking  in  the  street,  a  young  man  standing  in  a  store  door, 
without  any  preliminary  salutation,  says  to  me,  "  What  is  the 
matter  with  me!"  I  stopped,and  looking  at  him,  told  him  there 
was  not  much  the  matter  with  him,  "  Have  1  not  the  consump- 
tion!" said  he.  "No,"  I  replied  ;  "and  you  will  never  have  it  5 
you  have  a  slight  disease  of  your  heart ;  that  is  all  your  ail- 
ment." His  brother-in-law,  standing  beside  of  him,  said  at 
once,  "He  will  be  very  glad  to  hear  you  say  so,  as  he  thinks  he 
has  the  consumption  or  is  liable  to  it."  The  next  moment  the 
young  man  was  laying  prostrate  in  the  store  door  in  a  fit,  by 
sudden  stoppage  of  the  heart,  brought  on  by  mental  excitement 
that  had  induced  faintness  and  loss  of  consciousness  for  a  mo- 
ment, until  the  heart  again  acted.  I  accompanied  him  to  his 
house  and  prescribed  for  him  ;  in  a  short  time  he  was  well. 

At  his  house  I  met  his  wife.  Before  marriage,  she  was  Miss 
Avery,  of  Fittsford,  or  Brandon,  Vermont.  Her  brother  was 
Doct.  Avery,  of  New  York  ;  a  pleasing  writer,  who  died  early  of 
consumption.  She  is  the  niece  of  my  much  esteemed  friend, 
Lyman  B.  Walker,  Esq.,  the  present  respected  attorney  general 
of  New  Hampshire.  Mrs.  L  told  me  that  twenty-eight  months 
before,  she  was  brought  to  Saratoga  in  the  last  stages  of  con- 
sumption :  great  emaciation,  night  sweats,  hectic  fever,  much 
cough,  and  frequent  expectoration; in  fact,  not  expected  to  live 
two  months.  As  a  forlorn  hope,  she  came  to  Saratoga  to  drink 
the  water,  without  the  least  hope  of  recovering.  After  being 
a  short  time  at  Saratoga,  she  awakened  one  morning  and  found 
the  bed  curtains  in  great  agitation,  and  the  whole  bed.  She 
soon  traced  this  to  her  heart,  and  discovered  it  in  great  agitation, 
and  palpitating  violently.  For  six  weeks  her  friends  watched 
her  bed  side,  hardly  daring  to  turn  their  backs  upon  her,  fearing 
she  might  die  without  their  observing  it.  In  about  six  weeks 
the  violent  and  irregular  action  of  her  heart  began  slowly  to 
subside.  Her  friends  then  thought  to  inquire  after  her  cough, 
but  this  had  ceased  for  some  time.  In  short,  the  heart  had 
resumed  its  healthy  action,  and  she  was  well.  Her  strength 
and  flesh  rapidly  returned.  I  saw  her  about  twenty-two  months 


66  DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION. 

after  her  perfect  recovery.  She  told  me  her  lungs  had  never 
troubled  her  since.  If  she  took  cold,  her  heart  would  become 
agitated,  but  no  trouble  with  her  lungs  whatever.  She  was  a 
fine-looking,  fleshy,  healthy  woman,  with  a  very  full  chest  and 
lungs. 

In  Nov.  1843,  I  met  at  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  General 
McNeil,  of  Hillsboro',  New  Hampshire,  brother  of  the  distin- 
tinguished  Colonel  in  the  American  army.  His  case  is  inter- 
esting, as  it  shows  the  effects  of  a  common  cold — as  sometimes 
preventing  consumption,  instead  of  producing  it. 

General  McNeil's  case  was  as  follows  :  almost  as  early  as 
he  can  remember,  he  had  a  cough  and  apparent  consumption. 
He  well  recollects,  at  ten  years  of  age,  of  hearing  remarks  from 
his  friends  and  neighbors,  that  he  was  in  consumption.  This 
cough  continued  on  him  until  grown  up.  In  his  adolescence 
he  could  only  go  to  school,  not  able  to  do  any  work,  or  endure 
much  fatigue.  From  twenty  to  thirty  he  could  do  no  work, 
only  ride  about  and  superintend  his  farming  operations.  The 
cough  and  expectoration  changed  but  little  to  the  age  of  thirty- 
five,  when  being  in  Montreal,  Canada,  on  awakening  one  morn- 
ing, he  found  his  bed  and  its  curtains,  &c.,  in  great  agitation  j  he 
soon  traced  this  to  his  heart,  which  was  beating  violently  and 
irregularly.  This  irregular  action  of  the  heart  soon  controlled 
all  the  other  organs  of  the  chest.  It  continued  on  him  for  five 
years,  with  some  returns  of  the  old  lung  troubles,  cough,  ex- 
pectoration, &,c.  At  about  forty,  the  cough  ceased  ;  the  action 
of  the  heart  consequently  returned  to  a  healthy  condition,  and 
although  a  delicate  man  compared  with  others,  yet  from  forty  to 
sixty,  to  the  time  I  saw  him,  his  health  has  been  good.  If  he 
takes  a  bad  cold,  or  deranges  his  system  much,  his  heart  will 
be  a  little  excited,  but  in  general,  his  health  is  good. 

The  heart,  as  far  as  I  have  noticed  it,  seems  to  control  most 
the  lower  portions  of  the  lungs  ;  so  that  in  a  multitude  of 
cases,  the  tops  of  one  or  both  lungs  may  be  ulcerated,  and  go 
on  to  a  certain  extent,  when  the  heart  will  begin  to  be  affected 
and  bv  its  irregular  action  stop  the  progress  of  the  consumption, 
and  finally  cure  it :  which  is  effected  by  the  heart  first  taking 
a  part  of  the  inflammation  upon  itself  j  and  secondly,  by  retard- 


DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION.  67 

ing  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  engorges  the  lungs,  and  this, 
with  its  own  enlargement,  rapidly  enlarges  the  chest  and  every 
part  of  the  lungs. 

In  October,  1844,  a  Miss  Mary  Dibble  called  on  me  in  New 
Haven,  Connecticut.  She  had  heard  me  lecture,  and  was  so 
struck  with  the  parallel  of  my  lectures  and  her  experience,  that 
though  in  good  health,  she  called  to  tell  me  her  case.  She  said 
that  two  or  three  times  she  had  been  raised  from  a  seemingly 
hopeless  state,  but  the  reason  of  it  she  had  never  understood, 
until  she  heard  my  lecture.  She  was  tall,  and  of  a  slight  figure. 
Her  father  died  of  consumption,  and  she  had  lost  nine  cousins 
of  consumption.  Now  45  years  old.  Mother  and  brother  died 
of  lung  fever.  At  eighteen,  had  a  fever,  and  was  salivated  with 
mercury  ;  soon  had  a  bad  cough  and  raised  blood.  She  rapidly 
became  very  bad,  not  able  to  set  up  for  weeks.  In  eight  months 
she  recovered  ;  knows  not  how,  but  had  great  palpitation  of  the 
heart.  In  one  year  got  down  again  with  a  bad  cough. — 
Dr.  proposed  the  use  of  opium,  and  stimulants ;  these  she  re- 
fused to  take  ,•  had  an  enormous  appetite,  and  relaxation  of  the 
bowels  ;  could  get  no  relief  except  by  great  abstemiousness, 
living  on  a  half  pint  of  milk  a  day,  and  a  little  fruit ;  cough 
dry  and  hacking,  raising  only  blood.  She  gained  her  health, 
subject  to  fevers,  and  lungs  affected.  After  some  years,  went 
to  reside  in  Norfolk,  Virginia ;  had  a  fit  of  sickness  there,  and 
the  doctor  thought  her  case  a  heart  disease.  Eight  years  ago, 
returned  to  New  Haven,  and  took  a  typhoid  fever  that  lasted 
sixty  days,  terminating  in  hectic  fever,  ulcerated  lungs,  very 
bad  cough,  entire  prostration,  and  life  entirely  despaired  of  by 
physicians,  and  every  body  else.  Sick  thirteen  months  ;  con- 
stant palpitation  of  the  heart ;  but  again  recovered  ;  raised  a 
great  deal  of  thick,  yellow,  cream-like  matter.  Five  years  ago, 
sick  again,  raised  blood  three  times,  and  lost  voice  from  Novem- 
ber to  April ;  cough  and  thick  expectoration,  and  her  heart  so 
bad  as  almost  daily  to  threaten  suffocation  5  and  this  had  always 
been  the  case  whenever  her  lungs  had  been  bad.  The  heart 
affection  usually  seeming  the  most  immediately  dangerous. 
She  has  been  benefitted  by  short  sea  voyages.  Spent  one  winter 
in  Savannah,  Georgia.  Disposed  to  be  bilious,  and  at  times 


63  DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION. 

dyspeptic.  Through  life,  bowels  in  good  order  usually.  On 
examining  the  chest  and  lungs,  I  found  the  top  of  the  right 
lung  all  gone,  down  to  about  the  fourth  rib,  causing  a  loss  of 
nearly  one-third  of  the  right  lung ;  the  rest  of  the  right  lung 
was  good.  The  left  lung  was  unusually  large,  and  the  ribs  over 
the  left  chest  bulging  out.  The  heart  was  enlarged  considera- 
bly beyond  usual  health. 

In  this  remarkable  case,  for  twenty-seven  years,  the  heart  had 
resisted  the  progress  of  consumption,  and  three  times  raised  the 
person  from  apparently  hopeless  consumption,  and  curing  the 
diseased  lungs  after  one-third  of  the  right  lung  was  lost  by 
tuberculous  ulceration.  I  could  introduce  numerous  cases  of 
this  kind,  but  the  limits  of  a  lecture  will  not  allow  of  it. — 
Allow  me  to  say,  no  greater  skill  is  required  or  knowledge, 
than  to  know  when  to  interfere  with,  or  let  alone,  a  heart  dis- 
ease in  persons  who  are  predisposed  to  consumption,  or  in  who-m 
the  heart  is  acting,  or  being  diseased,  on  account  of  the  lungs, 
or  to  save  the  lungs.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  a  disease  of  the 
heart,  when  it  is  in  sympathy  wtih  the  lungs,  is  rarely  fatal; 
bat  is  apt  in  a  vast  many  cases,  to  continue  until  late  in  life, 
and  finally  cease  altogether.  I  have  often  noticed  in  a  family 
of  brothers  and  sisters,  one  or  more  being  consumptive,  one  or 
more  heart  troubled,  and  no  consumption,  whilst  others  perhaps 
will  have  asthma. 

There  is  another  curious  fact ;  a  parent  saved  from  con- 
sumption by  a  heart  disease ;  his  children  are  as  liable  to  con- 
sumption as  if  he  had  had  consumption.  1  have  often  known 
families  of  children  going  off  in  consumption,  and  no  declared 
signs  of  consumption  or  asthma  in  either  parents  ;  but  I  would 
very  soon  detect  heart-trouble  in  one  of  them.  The  difference 
between  heart  disease  and  consumption  is,  one  hurries  you  away 
in  early  life,  the  other  allows  you  to  die  in  old  age.  Of  course, 
if  the  heart  disease  is  very  violent,  it  must  be  corrected  and 
controlled  by  suitable  remedies.  At  all  times  it  is  perfectly 
curable  by  curing  the  weak  state  of  the  lungs.  I  should  remark 
that  there  are  original  diseases  of  the  heart,  which  do  notarise 
from  sympathy  with  the  lungs,  and  are  entirely  independent  of 
the  lungs ;  but  in  all  such  cases  the  lungs  are  rarely  diseased, 


DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION. 


69 


and  never  become  diseased,  unless  asthmatic.  The  diseased  or 
enlarged  heart  saves  them.  Moderate  disease  of  the  heart, 
pronerly  managed,  is  a  tolerable  passport  to  old  age. 

ASTHMA. 

The  next  disease  I  will  speak  of,  as  curing  consumption,  and 
always  preventing  it,  is  asthma:  ihe  phthisic,  as  it  is  often 
called  in  common  language.  A  diseased  heart  enlarges  the 
chest  and  lungs ;  but  asthma  vastly  more,  and  is  a  disease  of 
the  lungs  themselves.  It  is  a  disease  caused  by  consumption, 
or  consumptive  tendency  in  the  lungs,  and  always  arrests  the 
progress  of  consumption.  It  is  a  vastly  lesser  disease  given  in 
place  of  a  greater,  and  instead  of  being  a  curse,  is  a  great  bless 
ing.  In  consumption,  the  lungs  are  too  small ;  in  asthma  they 
are  too  large.  (See  plates  H.  and  I.)  A  disease  like  asthma 


H    Asthmatic  chest. 


I    Consumptive  chest. 


may  be  produced   by  ossification  of  the  blood  vessels  of  the 
heart ;  but  in  nearly  all  cases,  it  is  produced  by  consumptive 


70  DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION. 

irritation  of  the  lungs.  It  often  takes  place  suddenly,  in  ear- 
liest childhood,  continues  until  between  twelve  and  twenty, 
then  goes  off  and  is  never  seen  again  5  but  the  person  falls  a 
victim  to  consumption  ;  or  asthma  may  reappear  and  secure  the 
patient  from  consumption.  If  properly  treated,  it  is  a  passport 
to  old  age  ;  but  when  badly  treated  it  may  terminate  in  dropsy 
of  the  chest.  In  cases  of  dropsy  superseding  it,  it  will  usually 
be  found  that  ossification  of  the  blood  vessels  of  the  heart  is 
present,  and  not  simple  asthma.  Asthma  all  but  always  cures 
consumption ;  never  produces  it.  In  some  exceedingly  rare 
cases,  by  excessively  effeminating  and  debilitating  the  system, 
a  person  may  sink  under  the  effects  of  asthma  into  apparent 
consumption,  or  what  is  made  consumption  by  very  bad  treat- 
ment. The  asthma  leaves  the  person,  and  he  rapidly  is  over- 
come by  the  consumption  that  had  always  been  on  him  whilst 
he  had  the  asthma,  and  resumes  its  rapid  and  fatal  course,  on 
asthma  leaving  him.. 

If  asthma  is  cured  without  perfectly  expanding  the  lungs, 
and  keeping  them  so,  the  person  is  extremely  liable  to  consump- 
tion. In  October,  1844,  at  East  Haven,  in  Connecticut,  I  was 
consulted  by  Mr.  S.  Hotchkiss,  aged  43,  who  was  in  the  last 
stages  of  consumption,  wishing  to  go  to  the  West  Indies.  My 
opinion  was  asked.  For  many  years  he  was  a  subject  of  asthma. 
Ten  years  before,  that  is,  1834,  he  went  to  St.  Croix,  in  the 
West  Indies  ;  the  warm  climate  entirely  cured  him ;  he  re- 
turned home  delighted  with  his  relief ;  took  no  steps  to  keep 
his  lungs  well,  as  he  had  no  fear  of  consumption.  The  conse- 
quence was,after  seven  years  time,  consumption  disclosed  itself, 
of  which  he  died  ten  days  after  I  saw  him. 

Mr.  Daniel  Russel,  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  consulted 
me  in  March,  1845,  for  diseased  lungs.  I  found  him  near  his 
end  in  hopeless  consumption.  He  told  me  that  at  twenty,  he 
was  attacked  by  asthma,  and  had  it  every  night,  more  or  less, 
for  thirty  y^ars,  when  without  any  known  cause  it  left  him. 
In  eighteen  months  after,  he  began  to  have  a  cough,  with  the 
early  symptoms  of  a  fatal  and  true  tubercular  consumption. 

Mrs.  Faxon,  of  Boston,  consulted  me  in  March,  1844,  for 
distressing  asthma.  She  had  been  for  forty-two  nights  unable 


DISEASES  THAT  CORE  CONSUMPTION.  71 

to  lie  down  in  bed  at  all ;  but  sat  up  all  night.  No  medicine 
was  of  any  avail.  A  short  time  after  I  saw  her,  an  abscess 
broke  in  her  lungs  and  discharged  freely,  which  gave  her  im- 
mediate relief,  and  all  the  asthmatic  symptoms  left  h'er.  She  has 
had  repeated  attacks  in  this  way,  but  was  relieved  by  the  break- 
ing of  an  abscess  each  attack.  During  the  time  while  the  abscess 

o  o 

was  forming,  asthma  would  attack  her  violently  ;  when  it  broke 
it  would  leave  her.  This  had  often  been  the  case.  Four  or 
six  weeks  would  elapse  whilst  the  abscess  was  forming,  and  du- 
ring this  period,  most  distressing  asthma  would  be  present,  and 
all  leave  when  the  abscess  broke,  and  the  irritation  of  the  lungs 
was  over.  She  would  then  recover  her  usual  health.  Asthma, 
in  this  case,  consequently  curing  consumption.  I  saw  this  lady 
in  July,  1845,  in  very  good  health. 

As  in  heart  diseases,  so  in  asthma,  woe  to  the  person  who 
is  cured  of  asthma,  without  a  free,  and  perfect,  and  continued 
expansion  of  the  chest ;  as  he  will,  in  nearly  all  cases,  sooner 
or  later  fall  into  consumption.  The  remarks  about  asthma 
curing  consumption,  and  preventing  it,  I  have  verified  in  a  mul- 
titude of  cases.  It  is  also  true  that  children,  born  of  asthmatic 
parents,  and  delicately  brought  up,  are  equally  apt  to  have  con- 
sumption, as  those  born  of  parents  who  have  died  of  true  con- 
sumption ;  but  if  rightly  brought  up,  and  well  exposed  to  out- 
door occupations  and  exercise,  with  rather  hard  living,  they 
will  rather  incline  to  asthma,  not  consumption. 

By  treating  asthma  precisely  as  I  do  consumption,  1  find  it 
perfectly  and  readily  curable  ;  much  more  so  than  consumption. 

Its  longer  or  shorter  continuance,  before  I  see  the  patient,  is 
of  very  little  consequence  in  its  cure.  I  do  not  recollect  to 
have  attempted  a  cure  of  the  asthma  in  which  I  failed,  the  pa- 
tient following  my  directions  with  ordinary  judgment,  care  and 
perseverance. 

SWELLED    TONSILS    PREVENT 
CONSUMPTION. 

Swelling  and  continued  inflammation,  more  or  less,  of  the 
tonsils,  and  almonds  of  the  ear,  often  and  usually  prevent  con- 


72  DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION. 


sumption.  Of  this  I  have  seen  a  great  many  cases.  Dr.  Ka 
madge,  in  London,  had  a  cast  of  the  chest  of  a  man  who  died 
of  consumption  of  the  left  lung,  while  the  right  lung  was  well, 
or  nearly  so.  The  right  tonsil  was  always  enlarged  and  in- 
flamed, and  he  considered  the  escape  of  the  right  lung  from 
disease  was  owing  to  the  swelling  and  inflammation  of  the  right 
tonsil.  The  left  tonsil  had  never  been  inflamed. 

After  a  lecture  1  delivered  at  Saratoga,  in  1843,  a  distin- 
guished gentleman  of  that  town,  Mr.  Cook,  Esq.,  spoke  to  me 
of  his  experience  in  this  matter.  He  said  that  for  a  number  of 
years,  his  son  had  been  subject  in  winter  to  attacks  of  quinsy, 
which  is  an  acute  inflammation  of  the  tonsils.  His  life  would 
at  times  seem  in  danger.  Mr.  Cook  told  me  that  he  had  con- 
sulted a  great  many  physicians  and  surgeons  who  could  give 
no  account  of  the  uses  of  the  tonsils.  One  old  surgeon  of  great 
celebrity,  said  they  were  the  only  part  of  the  human  frame  that 
had  no  use,  and  were  made  entirely  in  vain.  The  tonsils  act  as 
a  sort  of  sentinels  to  the  lungs,  and  attacks  which  would  affect 
the  lungs  in  a  vast  many  cases,  attack  the  tonsils.  The  tonsils 
enlarge  and  partially  close  the  throat,  so  that  the  passage  of  the 
air  out  of  the  lungs  is  partially  and  often  much  obstructed  ;  thi 
effect  is  to  enlarge  the  lungs,  and  prevent  the  progress  of  co: 
sumption.  It  is  said  that  whenever  the  tonsils  are  enlarged,  tu 
bercles  at  that  time  exist  on  the  lungs.  To  continue  the  case 
of  Mr.  Cook.  After  much  anxious  consultation,  by  the  unan- 
imous consent  of  all  the  consulting  physicians,  the  tonsils  cf 
his  son  were  cut  out.  But  the  next  winter,  said  Mr.  Cook,  to 
my  horror,  the  disease  attacked  my  son's  lungs,  and  it  was  with 
the  greatest  difficulty  we  could  keep  him  alive  until  warm 
weather,  when  his  diseased  lungs  grew  better  and  now,  said 
Mr.  Cook,  I  propose  to  send  him  to  the  West  Indies  early  in 
the  fall,  to  cure  his  lungs  and  save  his  life  by  a  residence  in  a 
warm  climate.  It  was  remarked  in  his  case,  that  one  tonsil 
was  cut  out  and  a  part  of  the  other.  The  inflammation  attacked 
his  lungs  ;  the  lung  on  the  side  where  the  tonsil  was  all  cut  out, 
was  much  more  affected  than  the  other  side,  for  the  piece  of  the 
tonsil  left  in  was  inflamed,  and  so  relieved  the  lung  on  the 
same  side  in  some  measure. 


DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION.  73 

A  case  was  mentioned  to  me  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. 
A  child  of  captain  Philip  Currier,  of  that  town,  had  swelled 
tonsils,  and  its  mother  had  them  cut  out.  The  disease  that 
was  upon  the  tonsils  soon  settled  upon  the  lungs,  and  the  child, 
to  its  mother's  inexpressible  grief,  soon  died  of  consumption. 
In  cases  of  persons  who  are  inclined  to  any  humor  in  the  sys- 
tem, and  that  have  the  tonsils  inflamed,  if  you  cut  them  out, 
the  luno-s  are  almost  certain  to  become  affected.  Tha  inflam- 

a 

mation  and  swelling  of  the  tonsils  are  easily  remedied  and  re- 
lieved ;  so  that  cutting  them  out  is  usually  unnecessary,  besides 
often  endangering  the  life  of  the  person  who  has  his  tonsils  cut 
out.  Parents  who  have  the  health  of  their  children  in  their 
keeping,  should  be  cautious  how  they  allow  their  tonsils  to  be 
cut  out. 

COMMON  COLD  CURES  CONSUMPTION. 

1  have  before  hinted  that  a  common  cold  will  occasionally 
cure  consumption.  It  may  seem  paradoxical  that  a  cold  will 
cause  consumption,  and  will  also  at  other  times  cure  it.  I  will 
endeavor  to  make  you  understand  how  this  can  be.  Suppose 
I  stick  a  nail  in  my  hand,  and  suppose  inflammation  follows, 
should  this  inflammation  run  over  the  skin  of  my  hand  and  be 
superficial,  my  hand  would  swell  very  much,  but  I  should  not 
lose  it ;  but  if  the  inflammation  should  attack  the  bones  and 
deep  seated  parts  of  my  hand,  I  might  lose  the  hand.  It  is 
the  same  with  a  cold  j  at  one  time  it  will  attack  the  deep  seated 
parts  of  the  lungs,  and  cause  consumption  ;  at  other  times  it 
will  only  run  over  the  skin,  lining  the  air  pipes  and  air  cells 
of  the  lungs ;  in  this  way  enlarging  the  lungs  very  much,  and 
prevent  and  even  cure  consumption,  as  I  have  witnessed  in 
many  cases.  The  case  of  Mr.  McNeil,  of  Hillsboro,'  mention- 
ed in  heart  cases,  at  page  66,  is  an  illustration  of  consumption 
retarded,  and  its  fatal  termination  prevented  by  a  cold  on  the 
lungs  ;  or  as  it  is  called,  pulmonary  catarrh.  General  McNeil 
had  a  cough  and  seeming  consumption  for  thirty-five  years  be- 
fore his  heart  became  affected ;  when  for  five  years  the  heart 
affection  and  cold  acted  together,  and  both  cured  the  consump- 

4 


74  DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION. 

tion  upon  the  lungs  ;  when;the  exciting  cause  being  removed, 
all  got  well ;  both  the  heart  disease  and  the  lung  complaint,  &c. 

In  Liverpool,  England,  1  met  a  lady,  Mrs.  Eglington,  whose 
mother  died  of  consumption  j  and  as  her  orJy  child,  who  was 
afterwards  Mrs.  Eglington,  was  very  delicate,  as  she  grew  up, 
all  thought  she  would,  at  an  early  period,  fall  a  prey  to  con- 
sumption. At  nineteen  years  of  age,  she  took  a  bad  cold,  as  it 
was  thought,  and  as  it  actually  was  ;  soon  her  health  became 
good.  When  I  knew  her,  she  had  had  a  cough  and  daily  ex- 
pectoration for  twenty-seven  years ;  saving  its  inconvenience, 
she  enjoyed  excellent  health,  with  a  full,  well  expanded  chest, 
without  any  symptoms  of  a  decline. 

In  Nov.,  1842,  I  lectured  at  Burlington,  Vermont,  upon  con- 
sumption ;  after  the  lecture,  a  respectable  lawyer  of  that  town, 
Mr.  Griswold,  Esq.,  came  to  see  me.  He  told  me  that  if  he 
could  have  thought  I  had  previously  known  him,  he  would 
have  believed  that  I  had  lectured  upon  him ;  as  my  various  re- 
marks so  strikingly  corresponded  with  his  experience.  He  had 
suffered  from  a  cough  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  raised  a 
great  deal  from  his  lungs.  At  one  time  he  had  a  bad  influenza, 
and  joined  to  his  old  cough,  presented  strong  symptoms  of  rapid 
consumption.  It  was  in  March,  a  very  cold,  windy  month. 
He  was  attended  by  two  extremely  well  educated  physi- 
cians, both  professors,  teachers  and  practitioners  of  medicine. 
They  adopted  the  usual  practice,  a  very  warm  room  ,  as  if  cold 
were  a  mortal  enemy  to  the  lungs,  and  emetic  tartar,  confine- 
ment to  his  bed,  ana  all  accessible  remedies,  to  reduce  the 
strength  of  the  patient,  and  thus  drive  off  his  disease.  Under 
this  treatment  his  strength  rapidly  declined  j  cough  and  expec- 
toration became  profuse,  and  every  symptom  of  rapid  consump- 
tion appeared.  In  this  state  his  two  physicians,  knowing  the 
extent  of  his  business,  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  make  known 
to  him  that  he  was  near  his  end.  On  this  announcement,  he 
said  at  once,  "  If  that  is  the  case,  why  have  you  kept  me  so 
long  in  bed?  I  should  have  much  preferred  to  have  been  up." 
He  immediately  had  an  arm  chair  brought  to  him,  that  had 
wheels  on  its  feet,  and  caused  himself  to  be  dressed,  and  was 
wheeled  into  his  parlor — a  large,  well  aired  room.  This  was 


DISEASES  THAT  CURE  CONSUMPTION.  73 


on  Thursday  ;  on  Saturday  after,  his  physicians  called  ;  he  told 
them  that  the  next  Monday  morning  he  vshould  start  lor  Mon- 
treal, capital  of  Canada,  ahout  eighty  miles  north  from  Burling- 
ton ? — "For,"  said  he,  "as you  say,  I  have  a  great  deal  to  dr 
and  but  a  short  time  to  do  it  in."  They  remonstrated  ngji.nst 
this  unheard-of  temerity,  as  a  species  of  suicide;  that  his  death 
must  be  the  result  in  a  very  short  time.  Their  erji-Laties  and 
positive  advice  had  no  effect  upon  his  resolution  He  went  to 
Montreal  and  returned  nearly  well.  I  saw  him  eighteen  vears 
after  this  transaction,  in  vigorous  health,  although  still  subject 
to  his  old  cough  and  expectoration.  As  a  very  strong  intima- 
tion of  his  consumptive  habits,  I  will  mention  he  has  lost  t\vo 
sons  by  consumption. 

HYSTERIA. 

Hysteria  often  stops  and  cures  consumption.  In  many 
cases  the  spasms  of  hysteric  fits  stop  the  breathing  for  a  short 
time,  and  prevent  the  air  leaving  the  lungs;  and  in  this  way 
consumption  is  often  retarded  and  at  times  entirely  rured.  The 
effect  of  heart  diseases,  asthma  and  swelled  tonsils,  hysteria,  a 
cold,  &c.,  in  part  is  to  divert  irritation  from  the  substance  of 
the  lungs,  and  also  to  expand  the  lungs  and  chest,  and  in  this 
way  cure  and  prevent  a  vast  many  consumptions.  It  is  a  most 
interesting  circumstance,  that  there  are  some  cliseas  s  that  euro 
consumption — that  heart  diseases,  asthma,  &.C.,  cure  consump 
tion,  is  capable  of  the  utmost  possible  or  desirable  demonstra- 
tion, by  proofs  entirely  irrefragable  and  beyond  possible  con- 
troversy. The  proving  of  this  establishes  a  vast  fact,  that  pul- 
monary consumption  is  a  curable  disease,  and  sets  at  rest  the 
scepticism  of  those  in  the  highest  walks  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion, who  boldly  assert  it  is  always  incurable  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  disease  itself.  The  despair  engendered  by  these 
terrible  declarations,  lead  thousands  to  untimely  graves. 

PREVENTION   OF   CONSUMPTION. 

Having  detailed  to  you  the  causes  of  consumption,  yon  will 
readily  anticipate  much  I  must  say  in  teaching  you  how  to  pre- 


76  PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

vent  it.  I  will  say,  that  all  consumption  is  prevented  by  hav- 
ing and  keeping  a  good  healthy  state  of  the  constitution,  and  a 
full  chest,  and  perfect  symmetry  of  the  whole  person.  No  he- 
reditary disease  is  so  easily  prevented  as  pulmonary  consump- 
tion. 

PREVENTION    OF   HEREDITARY 
CONSUMPTION. 

No  state  of  mind  is  more  distressing  than  to  live  for  years, 
from  earliest  recollection, in  the  constant  apprehension  and  ex- 
pectation of  dying  of  pulmonary  consumption;  thinking  be- 
cause a  parent  died  of  consumption,  all  his  children  must  die 
of  it.  This  horrible  phantom,  by  night  and  by  day,  follows 
many,  and  usually  all  whose  parents  die  of  consumption.  All 
pleasures  are  marred  by  its  horrid  apparition.  It  haunts  them 
in  their  dreams,  and  terrifies  them  in  their  waking  hours. 
Never  do  they  see  a  notice  of  death  by  consumption,  than  they 
experience  a  thrill  of  horror  through  every  nerve ;  and  a 
cough,  or  a  little  hacking,  or  the  least  speck  of  blood,  and  their 
minds  are  filled  with  the  deepest  distress  and  despair.  They 
can  find  no  consolation  but  in  death  itself.  Let  such  take 
courage  ;  no  disease  is  easier  prevented  than  consumption. 

1  will  give  two  instances  of  hereditary  consumption  being  en- 
tirely eradicated,  apparently  from  the  blood  of  families. 

1  once  knew  a  family,  the  grandmother  was  the  daughter  of 
a  very  wealthy  farmer  in  the  western  part  of  Massachusetts ; 
she  was  the  oldest  daughter,  and  brought  up  in  the  greatest 
effeminacy.  She  died  of  consumption  at  twenty-six,  leaving 
an  only  child  a  daughter.  This  daughter  was  brought  up 
with  the  same  delicacy,  until  she  was  twelve  years  of  age,  then 
her  father  removed  to  a  frontier  town,  where  she  was  exposed 
to  the  hardships,  and  shared  in  the  privations  of  a  frontier  life. 
At  eighteen,  she  was  married,  and  died  at  thirty-two  of  con- 
sumption. She  left  a  family  of  sons  and  daughters ;  her  sons, 
whilst  mere  children,  and  all  their  early  days  to  twenty-two, 
led  most  active  lives,  and  became  professional  men.  Two  of 
her  sons  are  public  speakers  ;  they  stand  well  as  such  ;  they  ob- 
tained their  professional  educations  chiefly  by  candle-light,  be- 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION.  77 

fore  daylight  in  the  morning,  and  after  dark  at  night.  Their 
days,  from  quite  boys,  were  occupied  in  active,  hard  out-door 
labor — in  farming,  clearing  land,  cutting  wood  in  the  forest, 
&c.  The  daughters  also  shared  in  the  hardships  and  exposure. 
One  son,  from  excessive  over  exposure  and  hardship,  contracted 
a  dreadful  pleurisy  that  nearly  destroyed  his  right  lung  ;  of  the 
consequences  of  which  he  died  at  an  early  age.  All  the  rest 
are  living,  and  their  average  ages  are  about  forty  years — all  mar- 
ried, and  have  families  considerably  numerous,  and  nearly 
grown.  Now,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  we  should  ex- 
pect consumption  to  have  shown  itself  at  an  early  period  ;  but 
not  the  least  appearance  or  suspicion  of  consumption  is  seen 
among  them  ; — all  perfectly  free  from  any  appearance  of  con- 
sumption— all  its  predisposition  or  its  seeds  entirely  eradicated 
from  the  blood  of  the  family. 

I  will  give  another  case  :  I  knew  a  family,  where  the  fa- 
ther died  of  consumption,  and  the  mother's  family  were  some- 
what inclined  to  it.  The  father,  at  his  death,  left  eight  sons 
and  one  daughter.  These  eight  sons  were  brought  up  in  most 
active,  out-door  labor  and  exercise — coarse  d  et,  hard  fare  sum- 
mer and  winter.  The  oldest  son  for  several  years  showed  in- 
dications of  consumption,  but  was  remarkable  for  his  tall,  and 
very  straight  figure.  My  father  doctored  him  for  his  cough  ; 
he  got  over  all  consumptive  predisposition,  and  is  now  living 
at  nearly  55,  but  in  poor  health.  All  the  sons  are  living  ;  one  or 
t\vo  had  some  appearance  of  scrofula,  yet  no  consumption.  The 
average  age  of  those  eight  sons  is  about  forty-four  years; — all 
well,  save  the  oldest ;  all  living,  all  married,  all  have  large  fami- 
lies of  children.  Not  a  case  of  consumption  has  ever  been  known 
among  these  men,  save  the  oldest,  or  their  families.  Heredi- 
tary consumption  entirely  eradicated  by  invigorating  exercise 
in  early  life.  No  effeminacy  in  them  or  their  families.  It 
was  not  so  with  their  sister  ;  she  was  an  only  daughter,  and 
brought  up  most  indulgently — sent  to  school,  and  greatly  effe- 
minated, She  died  of  consumption  at  about  twenty-t\\o. 

Change  of  air  and  location,  are  particularly  valuab'e  in 
changing  the  constitution  of  persons  predisposed  to  consump 
tion  ;  go;'»g  jnto  new  parts  of  the  country,  should  they  choos« 


78  PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


to  reside  on  the  shores  of  a  lake,  b.p  all  means  live  on  that  side 
whence  the  least  wind  is  experienced  from  the  lake.  This  is 
a  rule  of  vast  importance  to  the  consumptive  ;  piercing  winds 
corning  over  a  wide  sheet  of  water,  hecome  loaded  with  vapor 
and  dampness,  and  are  injurious  to  the  consumptive, 

Mothers  who  are  strikingly  scrofulous  and  consumptive,  J 
think  for  their  children's  sake,  should  never  nurse  ;  but  these 
he  brought  up  by  the  sucking  bottle  and  feeding  them  with 
proper  food,  instead  of  nursing  their  mothers.  Best  of  all  is 
the  choice  of  a  healthy  nurse,  a  wet  nurse.  I  throw  out  these 
remarks  on  nursing  merely  as  a  matter  of  opinion,  having  no- 
thing very  positive  to  determine  my  judgment. 

PLAIN   BRINGING   UP   OF   CHILDREN. 

Children  born  of  consumptive  parents,  should  be  brought  up 
in  the  plainest  manner.  Food  plain,  coarse,  little  meat,  much 
bread  and  milk,  pudding  and  milk,  no  pastry,  no  coffee,  littlej 
greasy  food,  light  clothing,  no  dainties  to  help  their  appetite 
barefooted  in  summer,  if  you  please,  at  least  no  stockings  or 
their  feet  ;  indulge  them  in  all  active  out-door  exercises,  run- 
ning, racing,  climbing  hills  and  mountains;  farming  occupa 
tions  of  ail  kinds,  military  exercise.  A.11  beneficial  running 
and  racinj,  active  out -door  exercise  tends  to  give  full  chests 
and  large  lungs,  and  vigorous  constitutions. 

When    1  was   a  boy,  I  knew  two  families   who   lived   nea ; 
each  other.     The  mother  of  one  family  delighted  in  the  pleas; 
ures  of  the  table  :  had  a  great  deal  of  company.     Her  childreij 
were  brought  up  with  the  greatest  possible  indulgence,  both  if 
the.  profusion,  quantity,  and  expense  of  their 'clothing,  and   if 
their   beautiful    soft   beds,  and  every  luxury  of  the  table;  thi 
was  especially  the  case  with  the  daughters.     The  mother  tol< 
me,  in  a  later  period  of  her  life,  what  a  mistake  she  made  j  ,- 
said    her  daughters   scarcely  knew  any  health   after   they  wer 
^rown  up.     The  other  family  were  brought  up  exactly  the  op 
posite    in  all   respects,  careless  in  clothing,  and   rather  scanty  | 
no    luxury  in   food,  and   no  superabundance  of  it;  very  mud 
out  of  doors.     This  family  are  all   in  the  prime  of  manhoo 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION.  79 

and  in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  health.  Both  families  enjoyed 
the  same  position  in  society.  A  friend  of  mine  dined  some 
years  ago  at  the  house  of  a  rich  American  merchant,  in  one  of 
our  largest  cities.  Two  years  after,  he  dined  at  the  same  table 
again  ;  six  persons  who  were  at  the  table  two  years  before,  had 
died  of  consumption,  including  two  beautiful  daughters  of  the 
host.  Their  father  could  erect  over  their  graves  a  most  costly 
monument,  but  what  was  this  to  a  good  constitution.  They 
had  been  brought  up  in  the  worst  form  of  the  most  costly  lux- 
ury, and  effeminacy. 

Children  should  not  go  too  early  to  school,  nor  be  long  con- 
fined there  ;  the  desks  at  which  they  sit  or  study,  should  not 
be  too  low ;  they  should  rise  to  the  armpit  of  the  child,  and 
even  to  the  bottom  of  the  throat,  so  that  they  will  not  thrust 
the  chest  forward,  or  sit  stooping,  in  order  to  study.  Some 
years  ago,  I  met  a  young  girl  of  ten  years,  in  the  country, 
whom  1  knew  to  be  an  only  child  of  very  wealthy  parents.  1 
observed  she  had  very  round  shoulders,  and  stooping  chest.  1 
observed  to  her  mother,  that  her  daughter  had  very  round  shoul- 
ders and  stooping  chest.  u  I  know  it,"  said  she,  "  and  I  have 
scolded  her  enough  for  stooping,  but  all  I  can  say  has  no  effect 
upon  her."  I  asked  her  if  she  thought  that  scolding  would 
cure  round  shoulders.  I  went  to  the  school-room,  to  see  the 
table  at  which  she  studied ;  I  found  it  extremly  low,  so  that 
each  child  was  obliged  to  throw  its  shoulders  upon  its  chest  in 
stooping  forward,  to  write  or  read.  By  raising  the  table,  high, 
the  child's  shoulders  were  soon  restored  to  symn.etry.  1  saw 
her  at  16  years  old  and  her  figure  was  very  good.  This  matter 
is  so  important,  and  vital  to  the  future  health  of  children,  that 
every  parent  should  go  to  the  school-rooms,  and  know  for  a 
certainty  that  the  desks  at  which  children  write  or  study,  shall 
be  fully  up  to  the  arm-pits,  and  in  no  case  allow  them  to  sit 
stooping  or  leaning  the  shoulders  forward  on  the  chest.  If  fa- 
tigued by  this  posture,  they  should  be  called  to  stand  or  go  out 
of  doors,  and  run  about  when  fatigued  ;  so  that  never  shall  they 
rest  their  shoulders  on  the  chest,  or  rest  themselves  by  such  a 
mischievous  position. 

I  am  personally  acquainted  with  two  elderly  legal  gentlemen, 


80  PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

who  were  practitioners  of  the  law,  and  have  both  filled  stations 
in  the  judiciary.  They  both  lost  children  by  consumption  ;  they 
both  assured  me,  that  they  were  satisfied,  they  owed  their  lives 
lo  the  practice  of  sitting  perfectly  straight,  while  writing  and 
reading,  never  stooping  at  the  desk  at  all.  Practice  will  soon 
make  sitting  or  standing  perfectly  erect,  vastly  more  agreeable 
and  less  fatiguing  than  a  stooping  posture.  To  persons  predis- 
posed to  consumption,  these  hints,  as  regards  writing  or  read- 
ing desks,  are  of  the  greatest  importance. 

In  walking,  the  chest  should  be  carried  proudly  erect,  and 
straight,  the  top  of  it  pointing  rather  backwards  than  forwards. 
The  North  American  Indians,  who  never  had  consumption,  are 
remarkable  for  their  perfectly  erect,  straight  walk.  (See  plate 
A,  figure  1.)  Next  to  this,  it  is  of  vast  importance  to  the  con- 
sumptive, to  breathe  well ;  he  should  make  a  practice  of  taking 
long  breaths,  sucking  in  all  the  air  he  can,  and  hold  it  in  the 
chest  as  long  as  possible.  On  going  into  the  cold  air,  instead  of 
shrinking  from  it,  draw  in  a  long  breath  of  the  pure  cold  air. 
Do  this  a  hundred  times  a  day,  if  you  have  any  symptoms  of 
weak  lungs,  as  it  will  soon  cure  you ;  should  you  have  a  slight 
cold,  be  in  the  habit  of  often  drawing  in  a  full  chest  of  air. 

In  the  city  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  where  consumption  is 
almost  an  epidemic,  there  is  one  class  of  persons  who  never 
have  the  disease ;  these  are  the  fish-women,  who  carry  fish  in 
the  streets;  they  go  two  miles,  down  to  Leith,  the  harbor  of 
Edinburgh,  and  get  their  fish  early  in  the  morning,  place  them 
in  baskets  on  their  heads,  and  then  run  all  the  way  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  cry  their  fish  through  the  streets,  carried  in  baskets 
on  their  heads.  This  practice  makes  them  perfectly  straight, 
and  chests  remarkably  full  and  symmetrical ;  they  are  said  never 
to  have  consumption.  I  attended  a  ball  at  the  Palace  of  the 
Thuileries,  in  Paris.  Several  thousands  of  the  English  and 
French  nobility  were  present;  1  had  the  pleasure  of  noticing 
their  fine  erect  chests,  and  carriage,  and  knowing  by  this  why 
this  class  of  people  in  Europe  enjoy  such  remarkable  exemp- 
tion from  pulmonary  diseases,  compared  to  the  rest  of  the  pop- 
ulation. 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION.  81 


CHEERFULNESS. 

Cheerfulness  is  a  valuable  ingredient  in  the  composition  for 
preventing  pulmonary  consumption.  Persons  predisposed  to 
consumption  should  never  indulge  in  forebodings  on  the  sub 
ject  5  take  all  preventive  means  they  know  of,  and  cheerfully 
rely  on  the  blessing  of  a  kind  Providence,  to  extend  their  days, 
and  grant  them  an  exemption  from  the  disease  ;  they  should 
seek  cheerful  society,  cheerful  employments,  and  cheerful  ex- 
ercise. 

EXERCISE. 

As  a  preventive  remedy,  exercise, in  the  open  air  stands  at 
the  very  head.  Exercise  to  have  its  utmost  value,  should 
be  taken  at  exactly  such  an  hour  every  day.  The  machine 
comprising  all  the  human  frame,  is  a  most  ivonderful  crea- 
ture of  habit  and  association.  Exercise  taken  at  irregular 
hours,  one  day  in  the  morning,  another  day  at  noon,  and 
another  at  night,  has  very  little  effect,  compared  to  the  same 
exercise  taken  every  day  at  the  same  hours,  and  continued 
the  same  length  of  time.  I  once  knew  a  lawyer  who  had  a 
large  business,  and  found  that  he  was  rapidly  sinking  into  con- 
sumption ;  he  resided  at  Burlington,  Vermont.  In  the  month 
of  September,  he  bought  a  horse,  and  without  any  regard  to 
his  clients  he  would  leave  all,  ask  his  company  to  wait,  and  he 
would  mount  his  horse,  and  ride  exactly  one  hour  in  all  wea- 
thers. He  continued  this  habit  through  a  very  cold  winter,  to 
the  next  March,  when  he  found  himself  in  perfect  health. 

I  met  a  gentleman  the  last  summer,  at  the  Red  Sulphur 
Springs,  in  Virginia,  who  resided  in  Lower  Virginia.  All  his 
immediate  ancestors,  and  brothers  and  sisters,  had  died  of  con- 
sumption. He  was  a  mere  skeleton,  and  had  had  diseased 
lungs  for  thirty  years;  but  by  avoiding  all  drugs,  and  all  redu- 
cing medicines,  by  keeping  himself  out  of  doors,  on  horseback, 
and  with  some  object  in  view,  such  as  fox  chasing,  and  deer 
hunting,  continuing  his  out-door  exercises  all  winter,  when 
4* 


82  PREVENTION  OP  CONSUMPTION. 

most  invalids  consider  it  their  privilege  to  house  up,  he  retained 
fair  health.  In  summer,  he  would  visit  the  mountains  and 
places  of  summer  resort;  in  this  way,  his  disease  continued 
nearly  stationary,  although  highly  consumptive  by  hereditary 
predisposition,  by  his  early  habits,  by  his  figure,  &.c.  He  had 
Lad  true  consumption  thirty  years.  AH  invigorating  exercises 
out  of  doors,  or  in  cold  rooms,  such  as  dumb  bells,  quoits,  gar- 
dening, shooting,  angling,  farming,  sawing  wood  ;  in  fact  all  that 
produce  full  expansion  of  the  lungs,  and  do  not  contract  the 
chest.  Taking  long  walks  in  the  open  air,  and  taking  full  deep 
inspirations  of  pure  fresh  air,is  most  valuable. 

For  delicate  persons,  jumping  the  ro,  e  is  a  valuable  exer- 
cise. 1  witnessed  at  New  Haven,  in  Connecticut,  a  most  cruel 
hard  case.  A  beautiful  young  lady  of  seventeen,  and  strongly 
disposed  to  consumption,  became  irregular  in  her  nature,  fol- 
lowed by  some  bleeding  at  the  lungs.  A  judicious  friend  ad- 
vised her  to  jump  the  rope,  which  she  did  for  some  months,  and 
by  this  pleasant  and  exhilarating  exercise  completely  restored 
this  indispensable  function,  and  greatly  improved  her  health  $ 
when, one  unlucky  day  for  her,  a  medical  professor  called  at 
her  ho  ise.  It  is  a  practice  in  a  vast  many  cases,  among  con- 
ceited doctors, to  disprove  of  any  advice  given  by  other  physi- 
cians, but  most  of  all,  if  it  comes  from  such  a  vulgar  source  as 
persons  not  medical,  if  it  is  a  popular  remedy,  or  arises  from 
domestic  practice,  on  some  pretext  or  other,  without  the  least 
regard  to  its  merits  or  usefulness,  and  without  asking  what  it 
has  already  done  in  the  same  person,  it  is  at  once  rejected  ;  so 
it  was  with  this  young  lady.  She  was  told  tie  exercise  was 
too  great,  the  jumping  and  jarring  of  her  person  too  much  and 
very  unsafe  ;  that  she  must  take  but  little  exercise,  and  that 
not  at  all  exciting,  such  as  a  slow  walk;  the  consequence  was, 
her  monthly  turns  soon  stopped  entirely,  difficult  breathing 
came  on,  and  bleeding  at  her  lungs,  and  she  died  in  a  few 
months  of  consumption.  Had  she  only  continued  the  exercise 
of  jumping  the  rope,  it  is  more  than  probable  she  would  have 
been  alive  and  well  at  this  time 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION.  83 

DANCING. 

At  the  head  of  all  exercises  for  delicate  persons,  and  those 
predisposed  to  consumption,  and  invalids,  is  dancing.  Dancing 
in  company,  dancing  to  the  sound  of  harmonious  music,  I  do 
not  speak  of  dancing  as  a  dissipation,  but  as  an  exercise.  Its 
practice  promotes  cheerfulness,  symmetry  of  person,  full  exer- 
cise of  the  lungs,  and  expansion  of  the  chest.  I  once  knew  a 
badly  diseased  lung,  and  true  consumption,  cured  entirely  by 
dancing.  The  patient  began  when  very  low,  from  bleeding, 
and  an  ulcerated  lung ;  he  began  almost  by  accident,  to  step  to 
music,  and  danced  for  two  or  three  minutes  at  first,  and  in- 
creased as  he  could  bear  it ;  this  was  done  at  exactly  a  certain 
hour,  daily,  for  four  months,  when  the  lung  was  perfectly  well, 
and  has  remained  well  for  several  years.  When  young  per- 
sons and  old  persons  meet  in  their  small  social  circles,  instead 
of  sitting  in  conversation  for  hours,  dance  a  little  while,  if  only 
for  half  an  hour,  in  rooms  not  too  much  heated}  the  musical 
instruments  now  so  common  will  have  a  positive  value  in 
them,  if  they  incite  to  dancing.  The  greatest  value  and  good 
is  obtained  from  this  and  all  other  exercises,  by  doing  it  every 
day  or  evening,  at  the  same  hour.  No  exercise  should  be 
carried  to  the  point  of  great  exhaustion,  so  as  to  produce  debil- 
ity. Begin  gently,  and  it  may  be  gradually  vastly  increased, 
with  daily  increasing  benefit.  As  a  general  rule,  every  person 
should  take  a  walk  or  ride,  every  day  in  the  open  air,  unless 
extremely  stormy  ;  slightly  disagreeable  weather  should  never 
deter  going  out  j  strong,  hard,  cold  wind,  is  much  worse  to  en- 
counter, than  slight  rain  or  snow.  The  consumptive  should 
never  stand  still ,  talking,  or  silent,  exposed  to  sun,  rain,  or  wind, 
but  go  at  once  to  a  shelter.  Whilst  out  of  doors,  in  the  cold 
or  wind,  keep  walking  actively,  not  stand  still.  Clothing 
should  be  as  light  as  is  consistent  with  health.  (See  remarks 
on  clothing,  lectures  four  and  six.) 

BEDS,   AND    LYING   IN   BEDS. 

Luxurious  feather  or  down  beds  should  be  avoided,  as  they 
greatly  tend  to  effeminate  the  system,  and  reduce  the  strength. 


84  PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

For  this  reason  beds  should  be  elastic,  but  rather  firm  and  hard  $ 
straw  beds,  hair  mattresses,  these  on  a  feather  bed  are  well ;  a  most 
excellent  mattress  is  made  by  combing  out  the  husks  or  shuck 
that  cover  the  ears  of  Indian  corn.  I  first  met  these  beds  in 
ftaly,  they  are  delightful.  Cold  sleeping  rooms  are  in  general 
best,  especially  for  persons  in  health  ;  they  should  never  be 
mich  heated  for  any  person,  but  all  should  be  comfortably 
warm  in  bed. 

CLIMATE. 

Many  consumptives  think  they  would  enjoy  perfect  exemp- 
tion from  consumption,  if  they  could  reside  in  a  hot  climate. 
No  mistake  is  greater  than  this  ;  a  hot  climate  as  a  general  rule, 
is  not  usually  of  much  value  j  the  effect  of  a  hot  climate  is  to 
debilitate  and  effeminate  the  system,  and  to  predispose  to  con- 
sumption ;  hence,  consumption  is  very  prevalent  in  all  the 
West  Indies,  and  in  all  hot  countries  amongst  all  the  natives, 
and  long  residents.  No  climate  is  worse  to  a  consumptive  than 
where  his  diseases  originated  ;  any  change  with  him  is  for  the 
better ;  going  from  the  sea  board  to  the  western  country,  avoid- 
ing a  residence  on  the  shores  of  great  bodies  of  water.  The 
new  inland  countries  are  the  best ;  changing  from  the  sea  shores 
to  the  interior,  even  if  not  more  than  forty  miles  back.  Re- 
moving from  the  mountains  to  the  valleys,  and  from  the  valleys 
to  the  mountains,  especially  in  summer,  is  most  favorable ; 
avoid  locations  where  there  is  great  prevalence  of  damp 
changeable  weather.  Cold,  piercing,  cutting  winds  are  al- 
ways injurious.  Consumption  is  as  prevalent  in  any  city  of 
Cuba,  as  it  is  at  Archangel,  on  the  frozen  ocean,  the  northern- 
most city  of  Europe,  where  there  is  six  months  day,  and  six 
months  night. 

LIGHT. 

In  only  one  respect  do  the  torrid  and  frigid  zones  agree,  and 
that  is  in  the  matter  of  light.  Light  and  dryness  are  great 
friends  of  the  lungs.  Darkness  and  dampness  are  their  enemies. 
Therefore^  in  our  choice  of  locations,  these  views  should  be 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION.        85 


kept  in  mind.  In  the  choice  of  our  rooms,  reference  should 
always  be  had  to  light  and  dryness.  Our  bed  rooms,  sleeping 
rooms,  sitting  rooms,  counting  rooms,  workshops,  &c.,  should 
always  have  the  sun  upon  them  at  least  once  a  day.  Choose  a 
south  exposure  as  much  as  possible.  So  valuable  is  the  light 
considered  in  ancient  Rome,  that  it  is  there  a  proverb,  "where 
the  sun  enters,  the  physician  never  enters."  Basement  stories 
partly  under  and  above  ground,  or  cellars,  are  most  dangerous 
to  the  consumptive,  either  as  sitting  rooms,  bed  rooms,  or  work- 
shops, or  places  of  assemblage,  as  we  see  under  churches,  un- 
less very  well  aired  and  warmed  and  ventilated. 

I  was  consulted  in  New  Haven,  in  October,  1844,  in  behalf 
of  a  hired  girl,  who  had  left  her  comfortable  farmer's  home, 
and  gone  to  do  house- work  in  a  respectable  family  in  town. 
Her  sleeping  room  was  a  bed  room  in  the  cellar,  near  the  kitch- 
en. The  walls  of  the  basement  were  very  damp  ;  she  took 
fatal  consumption.  For  this  reason  the  highest  rooms  of  a  house 
are  always  the  best  sleeping  rooms.  The  chill  of  damp  base- 
ments is  always  felt  by  consumptives,  and  should  be  at  once 
avoided.  Rooms  should  always  le  well  ventilated,  and  have 
fresh  air  at  all  times.  The  following  striking  case  will  illus- 
trate much  1  wish  to  say  on  this  subject. 

In  November  and  December,  1812,  I  lectured  in  Burlington 
(<and  Middlebury,  Vermonl,  and  in  Plattsburg,  in  the  state  of 
I  New  York.  The  contrast  in  these  towns  was  most  striking, 
and  supports  what  I  said.  Plattsburg  is  situated  on  the  west 
side  of  Lake  Champlain.  Little  or  no  wind  ever  blows  from 
the  lake  upon  the  town.  The  north  and  north-west  winds  carry 
all  the  vapor  and  dampness  of  the  lake  from  Plattsburg,  and 
throw  them  directly  upon  Burlington.  On  all  the  western  shores 
of  the  lake,  and  at  Plattsburg  in  particular,  consumption  was 
comparatively  rare.  The  population  of  Plattsburg  is  not  very 
wealthy,  nor  are  their  houses  particularly  warm.  One  of  their 
principal  physicians,  Dr.  Benjamin  J.  Moore,  is  at  least  a  friend 
to  out-door  life  and  exercises,  and  not  too  much  clothing  and 
effeminacy.  He  is  a  most  gentlemanly  and  valuable  physician. 
Consumption  was  not  very  frequent  at  Plattsburg. 

Burlington  contains  about  4000  inhabitants,  and  is  one  of  the 


80  PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

richest  villages  in  New  England,  or  in  the  United  States.  The 
houses  are  beautiful  and  well  built,  and  most  of  the  best  ones 
have  double  windows,  I  believe.  I  know  a  great  many' 
have.  The  land  rises  gently  from  the  lake  for  nearly  a' 
mile,  and  presents  a  broad  surface  to  the  west  and  north-; 
west,  looking  upon  the  broad  lake,  and  receiving  all  the 
west,  south-west,  and  north-west  winds  from  it,  which  come 
loaded  with  vapor.  Some  physicians  of  Burlington  have,  for 
many  years,  taught  the  necessity  of  shutting  up  in  winder,  and 
keeping  very  warm.  For  this  reason,  and  a  strong  desire  to, 
be  comfortable,  the  houses  are  closed  in  November  ;  usually  the 
double  windows  are  put  up  and  kept  up  without  being  once 
opened  until  April  following,  in  many  cases.  Well  defended 
vestibules  to  the  outside  doors  shut  out  the  possibility  of  cold 
air  entering  their  houses.  Luxurious  living,  with  vast  clothing, 
and  almost  a  total  want  of  exercise,  complete  the  picture.  A 
female  is  rarely  seen  in  the  street.  I  have  visited  one  hundred 
and  fifty  cities  in  Europe  and  this  country,  yet  my  impression 
is,  I  never  saw  so  much  consumption  any  where  as  in  Burling- 
ton, in  proportion  to  its  population,  in  the  same  classes  of  peo- 
ple. A  great  many  cases  were  there  when  1  was  there.  The 
disease  was  chiefly  with  the  best  classes.  Little  or  no  manu- 
facturing is  done  there.  It  is  possible  this  is  not  entirely  cor- 
rect, but  it  is  my  full  impression. 

Middlebury  is  situated  thirty-two  miles  south  from  Burling- 
ton, and  has  almost  the  same  population,  but  vastly  less  wealth 
and  luxury,  or  effeminacy, — few  or  no  double  windows  to  their 
houses.  Their  principal  physician,  a  highly  intelligent  ant 
sensible  man,  long  resident  there — Dr.  Allen — has  always  taught 
the  value  of  out-door  exercise  and  air,  in  preventing  consump 
tion.  Middlebury  lays  rather  high;  is  several  miles  from  the 
lake,  and  has  a  fine  fall  of  water  running  directly  through  the 
village.  Whilst  consumption  was,  and  always  had  been,  so 
prevalent  in  Burlington,  I  found  but  one  case  of  consumption 
in  Middlebury.  I  have  met  several  other  towns  that  seem  to 
enjoy  a  remarkable  immunity  from  consumption ;  but  I  have 
not  time  to  particularize  them  any  farther.  Rooms  fronting 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION.  87 


north  and  north-west,  without  the  sun  in  them,should  be  avoid- 
ed  especially  in  winter. 

SEA   VOYAGES. 

Short  sea  voyages,  as  preventives  of  consumption,  are  very 
valuable,  but  not  curatives.  Long  sea  voyages  never  should  bo 
undertaken,  as  a  general  rule. 

DIET. 

Luxurious  and  gross  living  should  be  avoided  by  the  con- 
sumptive, tbe  scrofulous,  &,c.  Avoid  much  coffee.  I  think  it 
one  of  the  worst  liquors  for  the  consumptive  ;  so  are  all  de- 
scriptions of  pastry,  greasy  food,  and  too  much  food  ;  eating  to 
repletion  is  bad.  On  the  other  hand,  all  we  eat  should  be  good 
of  its  kind,  perfect;  but  not  eat  too  much  or  too  little.  Well 
cooked  meats,  plain  puddings,  milk,  if  it  agrees,  is  a  valuable 
article,  and  so  is  ripe  fruit,  fish,  shell  fish,  &.C.,  good  vegetables  ; 
living  neither  too  high  or  too  low. 

NIGHT   WATCHING. 

Sitting  up  late  at  night  in  dissipation,  or  anxious  watching 
over  the  sick,  or  in  study,  is  very  bad  indeed,  for  the  consump- 
tive, and  should  be  carefully  avoided,  as  it  soon  breaks  down 
the  system.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sleep  should  be  regular 
and  undisturbed,  as  much  so  as  possible. 

EMPLOYMENTS    DISAGREEING   SHOULD   BE 
LEFT  OFF. 

*  Employments,  occupations,  professions,  trades,  &,c.,  that  th^ 
consumptive  knows  to  disagree  with  him,  should  be  left  off'.— 
Oftentimes  this  alone  will  relieve  the  consumptive,  even  whei- 
he  chooses  another  occupation  that  at  first  seems  no  better  or 
not  as  gooJ. 

In  November,  1842,  I  was  consulted  by  a  very  em'nent  law- 
yer,  in  a  large  business  in  his  profession,  for  consumption.  Hi? 
right  lung  was  badly  ulcerated  ;  he  raised  a  good  deal  of  blood, 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


and  was  very  hoarse,  having  nearly  lost  his  voice.  1  prescribed 
for  him,  but  made  it  an  indispensable  condition  to  his  relief,  that 
he  should  go  to  his  farm  and  abandon  all  law  practice,  for  at 
least  two  years.  After  much  hesitation  he  chose  to  do  so.  I 
met  him  twelve  months  afterwards  in  apparently  good  health. 
Had  he  continued  his  law  practice  three  months  longer,  he  must 
have  died.  He  is  now  quite  well,  September,  184-6. 

It  is  deplorable  to  see  consumptives  continuing  the  same  oc- 
cupations, such  as  laborious  studies,  &,c.,  which  have  originated 
the  disease.  Yet  they  will  often  continue  on  in  despite  of  pain 
in  the  chest  and  side,  cough,  or  bleeding  lungs,  whilst  every 
effort  they  make  is  only  piercing  their  bosoms  with  daggers. 


'  NEVER   NEGLECT  A   COLD. 

1  have  before  said  that  a  cold  will  at  times  cure  or  retard  the 
progress  of  consumption,  yet  it  often  leads  to  it ;  for  this  last 
reason  a  cold  should  never   be  neglected.     Some  persons  are 
very  liable  to  cold,  such  are   usually  inclined  to  consumption. 
It  will  often  begin  at  the  beginning  of  cold  weather,  last  a  few 
days,  and  then  go  off.       The   next  year  the   cold  begins  and 
lasts  much  longer.     So  from  year  to  year,  until  the  lungs  are 
very  much  irritated  and  debilitated  ;    at  last,  the  cough   and 
expectoration  do  not  leave  at  all,  and  fatal  consumption  is  the 
consequence.     A  cold  should  never  be  neglected  ;  on  its  firs 
accession  it  should  be  stopped  by  drinking  at  bed  time,  a  large 
draft,  say  one  pint  or  more  of  hot  tea  of  sage,  or  mint,  hemlock 
thoroughwort,  or  lobelia,  but  not  so  strong   as    to  vomit ;  a 
the  same  time  take  a  little  gentle  physic,  such  as  salts  and    pu 
the  f3et  in  hot  water,  will  usually  soon  relieve  the   cold.     DC 
not  remit  your  efforts  until  it  is  removed.     An  old  and  celebra 
ted  physician,  of  Philadelphia,  told  me  that  whenever  he  per 
ceived  he  had  a  cold,  he  would  goto  his  bed,  take  warm  drinks, 
and  lie  in  bed   until  well,  and  would  never  have  it  last  more 
than  one  day,  and  often  a  less  time.     Colds   in  summer,  or  in 
warm  weather,  are  far  more  dangerous  and  more  liable  to  pro- 
duce consumption,  than  in  winter.     Coughs  beginning  in  sum 


PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION.  89 

mer  are  far  more  dangerous  than  those  commencing  in  winter, 
and  should  never  be  neglected.  • 

COLD    BATHING. 

Cold  bathing  as  a  prevcntive'of  consumption,  is  most  val- 
jable.  Persons  who  bathe,  in  cold  water  every  day,  rarely 
ever  take  cold,  or  are  liable  to  consumption.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  valuable  preventives.  (See  Lee.  4  and  6.) 

I  have  before  mentioned  the  case  of  a  lady  who  lost  all  her 
'amily,  father,  mother,  and  seven  brothers  and  sisters,  by  con- 
sumption. She  was  the  last  She  bathed  her  chest  freely  in 
cold  water,  in  all  seasons,  and  at  all  times,  from  seventeen  to 
;hirty-five,  the  age  I  saw  her ;  and  although  at  times  a  little 
:roubled  with  colds,  yet  had  entirely  escaped  consumption,  and 
when  I  saw  her,  was  enjoying  good  health.  It  is  much  more 
valuable  in  cold  weather,  and  in  variable  weat?  er,  with  the 
coldest  water,  than  in  warm  weather,  and  consequently  moder- 
ately cold  water.  I  shall  refer  to  this  subject  again  in  my 
'uture  lectures.  Bathe  in  tepid  water  if  you  cannot  bear  cold. 

INHALING  TUBE,  BRACES   AND   SUPPORTER. 

1  have  thus  far  spoken  to  you  of  remedies  and  preventives, 
;hat,  although  valuable,  and  should  never  be  neglected,  yet  do 
[lot  always  in  every  case  prevent  consumption.  I  now  come 
,o  speak  to  you  of  preventive  remedies,  which  if  faithfully  and 
>erseveringly  used  with  the  others,  cannot  fail  to  prevent  all 
consumption. 

I  have  told  you,  consumption  cannot  take  place,  unless  the 
air  cells  of  the  lungs  are  closed  up  more  or  less.  This  may 
arise  from  loss  of  symmetry  by  the  shoulders  pressing  on  the 
chest;  by  tying  up  the  chest  so  it  cannot  expand,  and  by  the 
falling  down  of  the  bowels,  so  that  the  floor  of  the  lungs  is  par- 
tially removed,  or  not  well  supported  If  you  have  a  weak 
stomach,  and  sinking  all  gone  the."e,  short  breathing,  &c.,  wear 
a  supporter  which  I  shall  hereafter  describe.  (See  plate  L.) 
The  next  step  is  to  remove  all  tight  lacings  from  the  chest,  and 
wear  a  pair  of  shoulder  braces,  for  a  description  of  which,  see 
i  lectures  5  &  6,  and  plate  J.  The  shoulder  braces  will  assist  to 


90  PREVENTION  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

rapidiy  expand  the  chest,  and  keep  the  shoulders  from  pressing 
hard  or*  the  chest.  The  next  step  is  to  use  an  inhaling  tube 
In  speaking  of  the  cure  of  consumption,  I  shall  describe  the 
inhaling  tube.  (Also  see  plate  G.)  The  use  of  the  braces  (an 
the  supporter,  if  the  abdominal  muscles  are  weak),  and  inha 
ing  tube,  will,  with  the  other  remedies,  entirely  prevent  the 
possibility  of  consumption  from  whatever  cause. 

The  inhaling  tube,  shoulder  braces  and  supporter,  w 
needed,  are  perfect  preventives,  and  should  not  be  neglected. 
The  lungs  can  never  become  disease.!,  if  the  shoulders  are  kept 
off  the  chest,  and  the  abdomen  well  supported,  and  then  an 
inhaling  tube  faithfully  used.  All  pains,  hoarseness,  and 
weakness  of  the  chest,  are  promptly  removed.  The  breath- 
ing becomes  deep,  free  and  full.  The  chest  rapidly  en- 
larges, and  every  air  cell  is  opened.  Any  person,  in  this  way, 
who  chooses  to  take  the  trouble,  can  have  a  large  chest  and 
healthy  lungs.  ^11  scrofula  is  driven  from  the  lungs,  and  ren 
dered  impossible  to  settle  on  the  lungs.  All  invalids  continec 
to  their  beds,  except  from  acute  fever  or  inflammation,  shoulc 
use  an  inhaling  tube,  to  exercise  and  expand  the  jhest,  aric 
open  all  the  uir  cells  of  the  lungs,  and  thus  prevent  ihe  pro 
gress  of  consumption.  After  lung  fever,  pleurisy,  or  pleurisy 
fever,  or  iniluenza,  the  use  of  it  is  beyond  all  possible  praise, 
as  it  will  so  promptly  relieve  the  lungs,  and  cure  them,  and 
prevent  the  possibility  of  consumption.  So  also  use  it  if  labor- 
ing under  scrofula,  or  scrofula  sores,  or  white  swellings  of  the 
joints,  or  hip  disease,  or  spinal  complaints,  or  rheumatism,  and 
in  fact,  any  thing  and  everything  that  prevents  a  free  exercise 
of  the  lungs.  In  a  great  many  cases,  consumption  is  dated  from 
a  lung  fever,  or  pleurisy,  or  some  chest  disease.  If,  after  any 
of  these  diseases,  an  inhaling  tube  is  faithfully  used  a  few 
months  or  even  weeks,  the  lungs  and  chest  become  perfect! j 
\vel!?n?  if  never  sick.  In  December,  1842,  an  old  man  at  Rut 
land,  Vermont,  consulted  me  in  behalf  of  his  son,  who  a  few 
months  before  had  a  large  abscess  in  his  chest.  It  opened 
outwardly,  and  two  quarts  of  matter  were  discharged  at  once 
It  continued  to  discharge  for  six  months,  up  to  the  time  I  sa\* 
him  I  met  his  physician,  who  told  me  he  had  seen  an  account  o; 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  31 

lie  inhaling  tube,  and  although  he  had  never  seen  one,  yet  he 
:onstructed  a  rude  tube  and  gave  it  to  this  young  man,  and  by 
ts  use  the  lungs  had  been  preserved  from  any  cough,  and  were 
strong  and  well. 

Attacks  of  meas'es,  scarlet  fever,  scarlet  rash,  and  all  the  erup- 
tive diseases,  and  influenza,  often  leave  the  lungs  in  a  bad  state, 
especially  measles.  If  the  inhaling  tube  i^  freely  used  after 
these  diseases,  all  seeds  of  consumption  will  be  eradicated. 

The  inhaling  tube  is  a  most  valuable  assistant  in  curing  dys- 
pepsia, and  many  diseases  of  great  debility  only. 

Ladies  after  confinement,  who  have  the  least  disposition  to 
ilung  diseases,  should  make  a  free  use  of  the  inhaling  tube,  so  as 
to  give  immediate  activity  and  expansion  to  the  lungs,  and  thus 
save  an  attack  of  consumption,  and  meet  all  weakness  of  the 
lungs.  Persons  whose  lungs  realily  stuff  up,  and  till  up  with 
mucus,  or  from  any  cause,  will  find  that  the  use  of  the  inha- 
ling tube  will  entirely  prevent  this  filling  up  of  the  lungs,  or 
greatly  relieve  it. 

CURE  OF  PULMONARY  CONSUMPTION. 

Having  spoken  of  the  prevention  of  pulmonary  consumption, 
and  having  endeavored  to  convince  you  that,  first,  consumption 
is  in  a  great  measure  a  mechanical  disease,  and  may  in  most 
cases  be  prevented  by  counteracting  mechanical  remedies,  I 
come  now  to  speak  to  you  of  the  cure  of  consumption  after  it 
has  actually  taken  place — after  the  lungs  have  become  tuber- 
culated — after  cough  has  become  seated — after  the  lungs  have 
become  ulcerated — after  night  sweats  and  hectic  fever  are  of 
daily  occurrence — after  all  these  are  present,  I  have  shown  to 
you  that  heart  disease,  asthma  and  pulmonary  catarrh  wi  1  cure 
it.  I  also  will  endeavor  to  explain  a  course  of  me  .-hanical  and 
medical  treatment,  that  will  in  most  cases,  if  seasonably  applied, 
cure  seated  consumption.  I  have  shown  to  you  that  heart  dis- 
ease, asthma,  &,c.,  cure  consumption  by  enlarging  the  chest.  I 
have  now  to  introduce  to  your  notice  a  mode  of  expanding  the 
chest,  even  when  the  lungs  are  ulcerated,  that  is  far  better  and 
more  certain  than  to  have  consumption  cured  by  other  diseases, 
and  has  the  advantage,  that  it  may  always  be  used  in  every  case 


92  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

of  persons  old  enough  to  use  them.     The  discovery  of  this  mode 
of  expanding  the  chest,  like  most  great  discoveries  in  medicine, 
was  made  by  accident,  and  its  fortunate  discoverer  was  an  em- 
inent physician  of  London,  Dr.  Francis  Hopkins  Ramadge. 
Laennec,  a  celebrated   French  physician,  wrote  a  work  more 
than  30  years  ago,  upon  the  diseases  of  the  lungs  and  chest.    In 
hat  work,  he  announced  to  the  world  the  fact   that  consump- 
tion was  cured  by  nature  or  accident,  but  how  this  was  done  he 
could  not  tell.     Nor  could  he  even  hint  at  a  possible  mode  by 
which  it  was  effected.     He  had  seen  persons  in  consumption, 
who  had  recovered,  contrary  to  all  ordinary  expectation,  or 
experience,  and  who,years  after,  had  died  of  other  diseases  ;  he 
had  opened  their  lungs  and  seen  traces  of  disease,  and  cavities 
where  ulcers  had  once  existed  in  the  lungs,  but  had  healed. 
Dr.  Ramadge  was  a  pupil  of  Laennec,  and  established  a  lung 
hospital  in  London,  many  years  ago.     At  this  time,  Dr.  R.am- 
adge  enjoys  a  very  extensive  and  lucrative  practice  in  London, 
chiefly  confined  to  diseases  of  the  chest.      The  discovery  was 
as  follows  :     Among  his  numerous  patients  was  one,  who  whilst 
in  an  advanced  stage  of  consumption,  was  attacked  with    a 
tumor  or  swelling  at  the  bottom  of  the  neck  in  front,  and  above 
the  breast  bone.     The  swelling  became  so  large  as  to  threaten 
suffocation.     It  required  all  the  skill  of  the  doctor  to  sive  his 
patient  from  being  suffocated  by  the  pressure  of  the  tumor  on 
Mie  wind-pipe.     In  about  six  weeks  the  swelling  began  to  sub- 
side, but  before  this  the  consumptive  complaint  rapidly  yielded, 
ai>d  when  the  tumor  on  the  throat  subsided,  the  consumption 
was  veil.     After  a  little  time,  the  doctor  received  a  call  from,  a 
person   who  was    the  last  of  his    family,  all  the  rest    having 
died  of  consumption,  and  he  was  in  confirmed   consumption. 
The  doctor  related  to  him  the  case  of  the  man  who  was  cured 
by  a  tumor  coming  on  the   front  of  his  throat.     At  Dr.  Ram- 
adge's  suggestion,  this  last  patient  made  a  silver  band  to  gc 
around  his  neck,  and   on  the  front  of  it  he  fastened  an  ivory 
ball,  and  bound  it  firmly  down  on  the  wind-pipe  in  front.    This 
operated    nearly  as  the  diseased  swelling  had  done  in  the  first 
patient.     It  soon  cured  the  lungs  of  the  silver -smith.     From 
these  two  cases,  Dr.  Ramadge  learned  that  the  effect  in  each 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  93 


was  to  rapidly  enlarge  the  lungs  and  expand  the  chest. 
He  also  discovered,  that  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  cause  the  pa- 
tient to  breathe  through  a  small  opening  or  pipe,  much  smaller, 
say  twenty  times  smaller  than  the  opening  into  the  wind-pipe 
To  effect  this,  he  made  an  instrument  then  called, 

AN  INHALING  TUBE. 


PLATE   G. 


This  tube  he  at  first  made  about  four  and  a  half  feet  long, 
with  an  opening  through  its  whole  length,  provided  with  a 
mouth-piece  to  go  between  the  lips,  and  the  patient  sucked  in, 
or  inhaled  the  air  as  long  as  he  could,  and  then  through  the 
same  tube,  blew  it  out  again.  By  this  process,  the  chest  would 
rapidly  enlarge.  Dr.  Ramadge  also  made  an  inhaling  tube  a 
ittle  like  a  whistle,  with  a  valve  in  it  so  constructed  that  the 
air  would  go  into  the  mouth  and  lungs  through  a  large  free 
uassage,  and  on  returning,  the  air  would  be  forced  to  go  out  of 
;he  mouth  and  lungs  through  a  much  smaller  opening.  The 
jffect  of  which  is,  to  allow  the  lungs  to  fill  rapidly  and  without 
jxhaustion  of  strength,  and  on  leaving  the  lungs,  it  is  all  passed 
hrough  an  opening  not  much  larger  than  a  knitting  needle,  hy 
which  the  air  was  slowly  forced  out  of  the  lungs,  and  by  this 
)ressure  the  lungs  were  greatly  expanded,  and  the  air  every 
cvhere  opened  the  chest  in  the  largest  manner. 

Dr.  Ramadge  is  the  original  inventor  of  the  inhaling  tube,  for 
the  expansion  of  the  chest,  and  expansion  of  the  lungs,  and  the 
cure  of  pulmonary  consumption.  1  prefer  the  valvular  tube?  as 


94  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


being  in  all  respects  the  most  efficient  and  easy  to  the  patient. 
These  tubes  were  at  first  made  of  wood  and  ivory.  For  several 
reasons,  I  prefer  the  tubes  to  be  made  of  silver,  platina  or  gold. 
Because  tubes  made  of  wood,  ivory  or  india-rubber,  are  apt 
soon,  if  used  by  a  person  with  ulcerated  or  diseased  lungs,  to 
become  very  foul  and  poisonous  in  some  cases.  Some  time 
ago,  early  in  my  practice  in  the  United  States,  I  was  consulted 
by  a  man  who  had  ulcerated  lungs.  I  prescribed  for  him  ;  he 
told  me  he  could  borrow  an  inhaling  tube,  to  which  I  did  no* 
object.  He  did  well  for  eight  days  and  a  half,  when  he  was 
attacked  with  violent  vomitings,  and  died  in  two  and  a  half 
days,  in  despite  of  all  the  efforts  of  four  physicians.  The  symp- 
toms much  the  same  as  death  by  poison.  I  asked  to  see  his 
inhaling  tube  ;  1  found  it  was  an  india  rubber  long  tube,  and  had 
been  used  by  a  consumptive  man  for  four  months.  It  was  so 
impure  that  you  would  notice  its  unpleasant  odor  on  entering 
a  room  whe.e  it  was.  1  detei mined  at  all  events,  whether  poi- 
son had  anything  to  do  with  my  patient's  death  or  not,  to  put 
it  out  of  the  possibilities  by  having  the  tubes  made  of  silver  or 
gold,  never  to  be  made  of  any  material  that  could  contract  any 
impure  or  poisonous  matter  from  the  air  that  passes  through  it 
from  ulcerated  lungs,  that  might  thus  cause  ulceration  in  healthy 
portions  of  the  lungs,  and  so  poisoning  the  whole  system. — 
The  silver  and  gold  is  much  better  than  wood,  and  wdll  last 
hundred  years,  as  far  as  I  have  had  experience,  or  in  othe 
words,  never  wear  out.  The  consumptive  should  always  have 
his  inhaling  tube.  The  wood  and  india  rubber  tubes,  or  ivory 
will  last  but  a  short  time. 

HOW   THE   INHALING   TUBE    ACTS. 

Many  of  you  may  ask  me  how  the  inhaling  tube  can  assist  in 
the  cure  of  ulcers  in  the  lungs.  I  answer  that  ulcers  in  the  lungs 
do  not  incline  .to  heal  ;  because  every  day  the  substance  of  the 
lungs  is  continually  growing  less,  and  the  walls  of  the  sores  01 
ulcers  retire  from  each  other,  and  continually  from  this  cause 
and  the  motion  of  the  lungs  are  kept  gaping  open.  But  if  yoi 
use  the  inhaling  tube,  its  effect  is  to  expand  the  lungs.  In  thif 
situation  they  struggle  everywhere  against  the  ribs  and  on  al. 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  ;>5 


ides  /or  room,  at  once  closing  up  any  cavity  existing  in  the 
ungs.  Reflect  for  a  moment  that  the  lungs  enlarge  so  as  to  till 
and  enlarge  the  chest,  four,  five,  six,  and  seven  inches  in  cir- 
cumference. A  good  deal  of  force  is  used  by  the  patient  to 
•pen  his  lungs,  and  this  more  strongly  pushes  the  lips  of  the 
ulcers  together,  and  occasions  them  to  heal,  or  places  them  in 
i  position  to  heal.  The  use  of  the  irihalingtube  will  very  soon 
each  the  patient  having  ulcerated  lungs,  where  his  disease  is, 
LS  there  he  will  feel  pain,  smarting  and  burning,  more  or  less. 
All  ulcers  not  broken,  will,  on  the  use  of  the  inhaling  tube, 
ireak  and  discharge  their  contents.  "This  alarms  the  patient, 
L'here  is  now  no  cause  of  alarm,  because  all  the  ulcers  must  be 
TO  A  en  up  and  emptied  before  they  will  heal.  Again,  by  the 
ise  of  the  inhaling  tube  the  air  cells  all  around  the  ulcer 
>r  ulcers,  having  greatly  enlarged  and  expanded,  will  swell 
iround  and  into  the  ulcerous  cavities  and  close  them  up.  Allow 

to  illustrate,  as  well  as  1  can,  this  most  important  subject. 
Suppose  1  wish  to  cause  two  of  my  fingers,  which  now  are 
>lacfd  beside  each  other,  to  grow  together.  If  they  grow 
eaner  each  day,  they  will  separate  from  each  other,  and  cannot 
;row  together  ;  but  suppose  1  by  some  process  cause  each  lin- 
ger to  swell  to  two  or  three  times  its  natural  size  ;  the  effect 
>f  this  would  be  to  bring  the  fingers  hard  against  each  other, 
ind  should  the  sides  of  the  fingers  next  each  other  b?  made  sore, 
>r  the  skin  be  removed,  the  fingers  might  be  made  to  grow  to- 
gether. In  this  way  precisely  the  inhaling  tube  acts.  Its  use 
expands  and  opens  first  all  the  air  passages;  next,  all  the  air 
;ells;  and  causes  a  free  expectoration  of  all  mucus  and  pus,  &c. 
it  completely  cleanses  the  ulcers,  next  enlarges  the  air  cells 
iround  the  ulcers,  diffuses  new  life  and  vigor  through  the  lungs, 
brces  the  extra  blood  out  of  the  wal  s  of  the  air  cells  which  has 
hickened  and  nearly  closed  them  up.  It  causes  a  rapid  and 
>ee  circulation  of  blood  through  the  whole  lungs,  allows  no 
)lood  to  remain  in  them  that  should  not,  and  it  soon  obliges  the 
3nlarged  blood  vessels  of  the  lungs  to  become  smaller  and  to 
return  to  a  healthy  state.  ]n  all  cases  when  there  is  a  cough, 
out  no  ulcerations,  the  inhaling  tube  is  greatly  required  and  is 

unspeakable  value.     After  bleeding  from  the  lungs,  if  used 


96  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

with  proper  precautions,  the  inhaling  tube  is  of  vast  value,  ant 
its  use  never  should  be  omitted. 

The  history  of  thn  introduction  and  use  of  the  inhaling  tube 
in  this  country  is  instructive,  as  it  fully  proves,  that  in  all  sci- 
ences, and  arts,  and  bodies,  there  may  be  the  original  and  true 
idea,  and  also  the  spurious  or  false  imitation,  the  shadow  and  sub- 
stance. About  nine  years  ago,  the  discovery  and  object  of  the 
inhaling  tube  was  made  known  in  this  country.  Instantly  at 
tempts  were  made  to  make  such  a  simple  thing,  and  also  to  u«e 
it.  Nc  questions  were  asked,  no  anxious  enquiries  were  made 
of  what  it  exactly  should  be,  but  one  physician  whittles  out  a 
stick,  bores  a  hole  through  it,  and  places  it  in  the  hands  anc 
mouth  of  some  dying  patient,  and  suffers,  but  does  not  encour 
age  the  patient  to  use  it.  Many  fly  to  the  use  of  goose  quills 
as  most  eminently  appropriate,  and  as  good  as  anything.  A 
large  quantity  of  tubes  in  imitation  of  Dr.  Eamadge's  long 
tubes,  were  made  and  peddled  through  many  sections  of  this 
country,  and  sold  at  high  prices,  without  any  opening  through 
their  length  to  allow  the  air  to  pass  through  at  all.  I  saw  one 
inhaling  tube,  made  under  the  direction  of  an  eminent  physi- 
cian, that  was  made  by  cutting  off  the  large  end  of  a  tin  candle 
mould,  stopping  up  the  ends,  and  cutting  a  small  hole  through 
each  end,  so  as  to  allow  the  air  to  pass,  and  then  declaring  this 
was  as  good  as  any,  whilst  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  the 
true  article  was  to  be  had.  In  Boston  great  numbers  of  tubes 
have  been  made  and  sold,  that  looked  well  and  would  allow  the 
air  to  pass  freely  into  the  lungs,  but  it  could  not  come  out 
through  the  tube,  but  out  through  the  patient's  nose,  &c.  Em- 
inent physicians  in  many  sections  of  this  country  hare  in  this 
manner  employed  the  inhaling  tube,  or  what  they  supposed  to 
be  the  inhaling  tube,  without  any  success,  who  on  being  con- 
sulted would  pronounce  the  inhaling  tube  a  failure,  and  of  no 
use. 

In  most  cashes  physicians  have  never  recommended  the  in- 
haling tube  until  the  patient  was  in  the  last  days  of  life,  wher 
his  lungs  were  so  extensively  ulcerated  and  gone,  and  his  gene- 
ral strength  reduced,  that  a  return  to  health  was  impossible 
under  any  known  treatment.  In  such  cases,  without  making 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  97 


iny  allowances  for  the  above  circumstances,  the  tube  is  con- 
demned, and  the  physician  still  adheres  to  the  idea  that  con- 
sumption is  incurable,  deceiving  himself  and  his  unhappy  pa 
ients.  All  new  remedies,  with  few  exceptions,  have  to  fight 
heir  way  into  notice,  and  their  bitterest  detractors  and  oppo- 
ers  will  be  found  in  members  of  the  medical  profession.  In  no 
:ase  has  this  been  more  verified  than  in  the  case  of  the  inha- 
ing  tube.  Being  rejected  in  some  measure  by  physicians 
rom  causes  I  have  before  stated,  it  has  been  taken  up 
ind  used  by  empyrics.  This  has  still  farther  exasperated 
he  regular  profession,  and  makes  them  reject  all  enquiry 
>n  the  subject — in  many  cases  rejecting  a  patient  investigation 
,nd  study  of  a  remedy  that  is  destined  to  produce  an  entire 
evolution  in  our  notions  of  consumption,  and  place  it  among 
he  curable  diseases. 

Will  the  inhaling  tube  alone,  cure  consumption  1 

You  will  ask  me,  will  the  use  of  the  inhaling  tube  alone  cure 
eated  consumption  1  I  unhesitatingly  answer  no.  Medical 
emedies  must  also  be  used :  consumption,  as  a  general  princi- 
>le,  cannot  be  cured  by  the  inhaling  tube  alone,  unless  the  pa- 
ient  is  in  perfect  health  except  a  small  cavity  or  ulcer  in  the 
ungs.  In  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  thou- 
and,  proper  medical  remedies  are  required.  The  medical 
reatment  must  also  be  vighc;  if  not,  the  inhaling  tube  cannot 
lake  head  against  the  disease,  and  tne  injurious  effects  of  the 
ledicines  too.  This  forces  me  to  make  the  solemn  declaration, 
nd  in  the  most  emphatic  manner,  that  the  usual  routine  of 
ractice  laid  down  in  nearly  all  the  medical  authorities,  adopt- 
ig  the  use  of  emetic  tartar,  blisters,  setons,  tartar  sores,  caus- 
LCS,  housing  up  the  patients,  confining  them  to  their  rooms, 
8'mg  opium  and  its  preparations,  drastic  emetics  and  purga- 
.ves,  much  bleeding,  iodine,  low  diet,  &c.,  all  are  calculated 
>  make  consumption,  and  not  to  cure  it ;  so  that  if  the  inhaling 
.ibe  is  used  in  conjunction  with  these  remedies,  it  can  be  of 
ttle  use. 

The  first  step  in  our  progress  is  to  know  if  the  lungs  are  actu- 
lly  diseased  or  not. 

The  air,  in    passing  in  and  out  of  the  air  cells,  and  air  pa* 
5 


08  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

sages  of  the  lungs,  gives  peculiar  sounds  in  health,  from  which 
there  is  no  great  variation  in  persons  of  the  same  strength  and ! 
age.  When  the  lungs  become  diseased,  the  air  does  not  enter 
some  parts;  or  in  passing  in  and  out  of  their  air  cells  and  air  I 
passages,  it  gives  a  different  sound  from  what  it  does  in  health.1 
On  this  is  founded  the  art  of  examining  the  chest,  to  ascertain 
the  condition  of  the  lungs.  You  know  the  piano,  the  accor- 
deon  the  flute,  the  violin,  all  give  forth  peculiar  and  different 
sounds  ;  and  so  does  a  perfect,  or  a  broken,  or  cracked  instru 
ment,  or  an  instrument  imperfectly  made.  Every  deviation 
from  health  is  impressed  on  the  sounds,  or  absence  of  sound  of 
air  in  entering  or  leaving  the  chest  It  requires  an  instructor, 
time  and  practice,  and  constant  experience,  to  be  able  to  ex 
plore  the  chest,  or  ascertain  the  situation  of  the  lungs  with  pro 
per  certainty.  In  London,  Paris,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia, 
as  far  as  1  know,  nearly  all  the  practice  of  examining  the  chest 
is  done  by  very  few  in  each  city.  In  all  these  cities  it  is  per- 
fectly understood,  that  one  man  cannot  know  all  branches  of 
medicine  and  surgery,  and  be  as  perfect  in  each  branch  as  if  the 
whole  mind  and  experience  were  devoted  to  one  subject.  In 
each  of  these  cities  there  is  practice  in  each  branch  enough  to 
employ  the  best  minds,  and  all  the  time  of  physicians  who  are 
devoted  to  one  subject  only.  It  is  customary  in  these  cities, 
for  physicians  who  do  not  devote  their  time  to  examinations  of 
the  chest,  to  send  their  patients  to  those  who  make  examina- 
tions of  the  chest  a  particular  study.  No  certainty  and  accu- 
racy can  be  attained  in  exploring  the  chest,  without  a  good 
teacher  first,  and  large  experience  and  observation  afterwards. 
The  author  of  these  lestures,  besides  his  opportunities  in  Lon- 
don, has  had  five  thousand  consultations  in  cases  of  consump- 
tion and  kindred  diseases,  within  the  last  three  years.  In  no 
instance  have  I  ever  had  a  decision  of  mine  proved  incorrect 
by  any  physician.  I  mention  this,  in  the  hope  that  when  I  men- 
tion in  my  lectures  that  such  or  such  a  patient  had  diseased 
lungs,  it  will  be  understood  I  carefully  examined  the  chest  my 
self.  No  matter  how  learned  a  physician  or  surgeon  may 
without  considerable  practical  experience,  he  is  liable  to  fa 
into  great  and  sometimes  deplorable  errors  in  his  opinions 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  99 

he  state  of  the  chest,  for  it  may  be  diseased  and  he  not  detect 
t ;  and  he  may  pronounce  disease  when  there  is  none.  A 
triking  case  of  this  kind  occurred  in  one  of  our  largest  colleges 

few  years  ago.  A  young  gentleman,  a  student,  was  takn, 
ick  with  what  seemed  consumption  ;  besides  his  attending  pliy- 
ician,  two  professors  and  teachers  of  medicine  were  called 
rom  a  large  neighboring  city,  who  all  pronounced  the  case 
eated  consumption,  and  advised  sending  for  his  father,  who 
;ame  and  took  his  son  home.  Passing  through  the  city  of  Bos- 
on, he  called  in  one  of  its  oldest  and  most  respectable  physi 
ians,  who  agreed  with  all  the  others,  that  he  was  in  the  last 
tages  of  consumption.  The  young  man  went  to  the  state  of 
Maine,  where  he  resided,  and  died  in  eight  days  after  his  return, 
iis  father  had  his  chest  examined  after  death  ;  his  lungs  vere 
bund  to  be  in  perfect  health.  He  had  died  of  disease  of  his 
tomach. 

I  knew  another  case,  where  a  young  man  died  in  the  inte- 
ior  of  the  state  of  Connecticut,  of  what  was  supposed  to  be  a 
isease  of  his  kidneys.  He  never  had  any  cough  until  a  week 
>efore  his  death.  Several  physicians  had  seen  him  during  his 
ickness.  After  death,  his  body  was  examined  ;  no  disease  was 
iscovered  in  his  kidneys,  but  both  his  Jungs  were  found  to  be 
extensively  diseased  ,  he  had  died,  not  of  kidney  disease,  but  of 
:onsumption.  Some  persons  may  actually  have  diseased  lungs, 
vho  hardly  suspect  any  such  thing,  and  others  may  seem  to 
lave  consumption  who  do  not  have  it,  but  some  other  part  be- 
ides  the  lungs  is  the  seat  of  the  disease.  There  is  no  way  of 
ettling  this,  but  to  have  the  lungs  examined  by  some  gentle- 
nan  who  is  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  examining  and  explo- 
ing  the  lungs  and  chest,  both  in  disease  and  health.  A  man 
vho  does  know  how  to  examine  the  lungs,  goes  to  the  che^t  to 
earn  their  condition,  whether  diseased  or  not,  with  the  same 
:ontidence  as  you  would  look  upon  the  face  of  a  clock,  to  tell 
he  time  of  day;  but  to  do  this,  the  physician  requires  know- 
edge  and  constant  practice. 


100  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

TREATMENT. 

Faving  ascertained  by  actual,  careful,  and  skilful  examine 
tion  of  the  chest,  that  the  lungs  are  diseased,  the  physicia 
should  enquire  into  the  condition  of  every  other  part  of  th 
system.  He  should  investigate  carefu-lly  the  condition  of  th 
brain,  the  nervous  sj^stem,  the  stomach,  the  bowels,  the  kidney; 
the'  heart,  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  if  there  is  daily  fevei 
or  night  sweats  ;  if  the  patient  has  piles,  gout,  rheumatisrr 
scrofula,  skin  diseases,  or  any  humor;  canker,  sores  upon  an4 
part,  such  as  white  swellings;  dyspepsia,  gravel,  all  kidne 
diseases,  throat  diseases,  liver  complaint,  worms  ;  in  ladies,  fall 
ing  of  the  wornb,  all  female  diseases,  weakness  at  the  pit  of  th 
stomach,  or  across  the  bowels,  sinking,  or  all  gone  at  the  pit  c 
the  stomach  ;  weakness  of  the  back,  pain  anywhere,  stoppag 
of  monthly  turns  in  ladies,  costiveness  or  diarrhoea.  Thes 
must  all  be  cured,  for  it  is  impossible  to  expect,  as  a  geners 
thing,  to  cure  the  lungs,  and  leave  any  of  these  before-men 
tioned  diseases  upon  the  patient.  A  cure  cannot  be  easily  re 
aliped,  whilst  other  diseases  are  upon  you.  For  all  these  differ 
ent  complaints,  1  administer  what  I  think  to  be  proper  reme 
dies,  so  as  in  general  to  remove  them  perfectly. 

I  next  put  upon  my  patient,  a  proper  abdominal  supportei 
well  adjusted,  of  the  right  size,  strength  of  pressure,  &c. ;  nex 
I  put  on  him  a  pair  of  shoulder  braces,  and  give  him  an  inha 
ling  tube,  with  careful  directions;  I  take  care  that  the  tub 
is  prepared  for  his  or  her  case,  as  the  inhaling  tube  differs  i: 
many  persons ;  what  suits  one  person  will  not  suit  everybody 
or  every  patient;  if  the  inhaling  tube  is  not  perfectly  adapte 
to  the  case,  its  efficacy  is  much  impaired.  I  next  direct  hir 
or  her  to  be  bathed  freely  every  morning  in  cold  water,  o 
cold  salt  and  water ;  any  kind  of  spirits  may  be  used  in  th 
water.  The  efficacy  of  the  water  arises  somewhat  from  th 
tonic  power  of  the  cold  that  is  in  the  water  ;  hence,  the  colde 
the  watei  the  better  for  the  patient ;  if  not  accustomed  to  col 
bathing,  the  water  may  be  a  little  warmed  at  first.  For  direc 
tions  for  bathing,  see  lectures  fourth  and  sixth.  Before  wash 
ing  all  over,  the  chest  should  be  rubbed  well ;  if  cold  and  chilly 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  101 


se  flannel,  if  not  use  a  cotton  or  linen  towel,  after  being  wt-il 
;eated  up,  by  rubbing,  then  wash  all  over  with  the  cold  water, 
specially  the  throat,  neck,  spine,  all  the  chest,  and  stcwnach  ; 
t  is  belter  to  wash  all  over,  daily,  either  morning  or  evening, 
rather  prefer  the  morning.  Unless  under  very  peculiar  cir- 
umstances,  nothing  should  be  done  to  reduce  the  strength  of 
he  patient.  It  has  been  the  fashion  at  various  times  to  con- 
icier  every  step  in  the  commencement  and  progress  of  con- 
umption  to  be  occasioned  by  inflammation,  and  to  reduce  in- 
animation, the  patient's  blood  must  nearly  all  be  taken  from 
im. 

BLEEDING. 

At  one  time,  bleeding  was  all  the  fashion   in   consumption, 
nd   this  but  a  few  years  ago;  for  be  it  understood,  there  is  a 
ashion  in  medicine  as  in  everything  else,  as  leaders  and   set- 
ers  of  fashion  say,  so  it   is  adopted  by  ail  their  followers,  or 
se  who  rarely  think  for  themselves,  but   rely  on   others  for 
irection  ;  for  this  reason,  at  one  time,  bleeding  was  all  the  go. 
once   knew  a  man  bled  nineteen  times  in  eighteen   days;  I 
well  remember  his  remarks  on  its  singular  efficacy,  how  it  re- 
noved  all   the  cold  chills.     He  had   constitution  and   lungs   to 
ave   lasted   many  years ;  he   never  rallied   from  the  dreadful 
leedings,  arid  died  in  a  few  months.     In  prescribing  for  about 
ve  thousand  persons  within  the   last  three  years  in  this  coun- 
ry,  and  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  in    all   locations,  from 
rginia  to  Canada,  I  have   never  recommended  bleeding,  but 
n  one  case.     In  this  case  the  young  man  had  a  cousin  that 
led  to  death  from  the  lungs  two  months  previously,  and  another 
ousin  of  another  family,  that   bled   to  death  two  years  before 
i  the  same  way.     He  came  to  me,  and    hacf  been  moderately 
Bleeding  from  his  lungs  for  three  days.     In  his  case  1  directed 
fleecing  from  the  arm,  and  other  remedies,  and  soon  relieved 
>im.     In  the  ordinary  progress  of  consumption,  i  never  think 
)f  bleeding,  as  it  would  be  productive  of  vast  injury.     One  or 
:wo  leeches  may  at  times  be   used;    but  1  rarely  find  it  ne 
:essary. 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


COUNTER-IRRITATION. 

It  has  been  at  different  times   the  fashion  to  use    le  most  se 
vere  remedies  to  produce    irritation,  and   discharges,  and  sore 
on  the  chest,  so  as  to  cause   internal    inflammation.  Three  days 
since,  1  saw  a  lady,  who,  under  the  direction  of  a  respectable 
physician,  had  put  seventy  successive  blisters  on  her  chest,  with 
hardly  any  perceptible    benefit.     Another  lady  I    saw  a  short 
time  since,  who  had  made  on  her  chest,  under  the  direction  of 
a  physician,  the  most  severe  emetic  tartar  sores.     The  physician 
himself  applied  the  emetic  tartar  ointment.     Its  severity  am 
extent  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  on  the  breast  bone  a 
hole  was  eat  directly  through  it  into  her  chest.     It  was  a  num 
her  of  -nonths  before  it  healed.     These   sores  and  blisters,  be 
sides  being  most  horrible  and  dreadful  in  nearly  every  point  o 
view,  tend  greatly  to  reduce  the  patient,  and  unless  under  very 
pecular  circumstances,  should    never  be  used.     In  some  rare 
cases   they  may  be  used,  but  the  cases  where  they  are  needed 
are  very  rare. 

1  once  knew  a  young  lady  who  was  in  consumption,  but  able 
to  attend  to  all  ordinary  duties,  to  take  long  daily  walks,  a  good 
appetite,  and  fair  strength.  Under  bad  advisers,  she  put  an 
immense  blister  plaster  over  her  whole  chest,  and  kept  it  on  all 
night,  it  drew  one  vast  blister.  She  never  after  could  leave 
the  house,  and  hardly  her  bed,  until  her  death.  For  the  fir  si 
three  weeks  after  using  the  blister  she  never  left  her  bed.  excep 
to  have  it  made,  &c. 

Blisters  and  emetic  tartar  sores,  in  three  ways  act  injurious!] 
to  the  lungs.  First,  bv  the  distressing  pain  and  suffering  the;i 
it, duce,  they  overcome  the  nervous  system. 

IVcxt,  their  d^charges  reduce  the  patient  by  the  drair 
from  his  system,  and  lastly  they  prevent  his  breathing,  he  can 
not  expand  his  chest  on  account  of  the  pain  produced  by  the  sore: 
wrier,  he  moves  his  ribs  in  drawing  in  the  air,  or  letting  it  out 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  in  removing  pain,  a  piece  of  linen  01 
cotton  cloth  folded  two  or  three  thicknesses,  and  wet  in  coh 
water  and  laid  upon  the  chest,  or  any  part  from  which  you  wisl 
to  remove  pain,  will  remove  the  pain  nearly  as  soon  in  manj 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  103 

:ases,  as  a  blister,  without  producing  any  injurious  consequen- 
ces whatever.  The  cloth  may  be  wet  .two  or  three  times  in 
wenty-four  hours,  and  worn  all  the  time,  or  only  at  night,  and 
he  pain  will  usually  cease.  If  still  the  pain  does  not  leave,  a 
inime:it  may  be  rubbed  on,  and  this  will  usually  complete 
vhat  the  wet  cloth  has  not  perfectly  done,  or  you  may  rub  on 
he  liniment,  and  then  cover  the  part  with  the  wet  cloth,  and 
*ery  rarely  will  you  ever  fail  of  relieving  the  pain,  without  any 
suffering  to  the  patient,  or  loss  of  strength,  or  those  horrid  scars 
vhich  so  often  disfigure  the  neck  and  breast  of  beauty. 

DIET. 

On  no  subject  does  medical  philosophy  fail  more,  than  on 
lie  matter  of  what  we  shall  eat-  Inis  is  so  with  the  consump- 
ive.  I  believe  the  best  rule  is,  to^allow  them  to  eat  whatever 
bey  please,  without  eating  so  much  as  to  load  the  stomach,  or 
ause  fever.  Well  cooked  meats,  fish,  stale  bread,  vegetables, 
ruits,  wine,  beer,  porter,  &c.,  in  fact,  every  thing  in  modera- 
ion  that  gives  strength,  and  does  not  produce  fever  much ;  slight 
ever  will  soon  go  off,  and  docs  little  hurt.  Coffee  I  usually  find 
o  do  hurt,and  also  acids.  Use  a  plenty  of  salt,  not  much  pep- 
er  or  spices.  Salt  provisions  are  not  usually  desirable.  The 
ood  or  drink,  usually,  maybe  rather  cold  instead  of  very  warm. 
3astry,  and  all  varieties  of  confectionary,  meats,  &c.,  should  be 
sed  very  sparingly.  In  all  this,  the  patient  should  be  his  own 
octor,  study  his  case  carefully,  and  eat  what  he  finds  to  agree 
vith  him,  and  not  positively  to  disagree.  Rigid  rules  of  diet,  I 
have  seldom  found  of  much  benefit. 

AIR. 

To  the  consumptive,  the  air  is  a  vast  medicine.  It  is  far 
more  valuable  than  all  other  remedies.  It  is  the  grana  agent  in 
expanding  the  chest.  It  was  a  fashion,  some  time  ago,  for  all 
consumptives  to  be  housed  up,  or  sent  either  to  a  warm  climate, 
or  at  a  very  early  day  in  the  fall  to  their  warm  rooms,  and  kept 
there  until  the  next  summer,  or  late  in  the  spring.  A  few,  very 
few,  would  survive  one  winter.  They  usually  went  from  their 


104  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

rooms  to  their  graves.  No  practice  can  be  more  fatal.  It 
almost  surely  ends  in  death,  and  usually  cuts  off  every  hope  of  a 
cure  of  consumption.  The  consumptive  should  be  kept  out  in 
the  open  air  as  long  as  possible  daily,  if  the  weather  will  any 
way  allow  of  it,  either  to  ride  or  walk.  If  he  cannot  ride,  he 
should  walk  in  a  cold  room  each  day;  and  if  still  obliged  to  keep 
his  room,  I  often  direct  a  small  hose  or  stopcocSc  to  be  placed 
through  the  window  frame,  and  draw  the  air  from  out  of  doors 
to  the  inhaling  tube.  The  effect  of  the  cold  air  is  very  salutary 
upon  the  debilitated  and  ulcerated  lungs.  The  cold  fresh  air 
is  vastly  more  nutritious  to  the  lungs  and  system,  than  warm 
air )  and  even  half  a  lung  fed  with  cold  pure  air.it  will  sus- 
tain life  when,  if  only  supplied  with  warm,  rarefied  air,  would 
allow  the  patient  soon  to  die.  For  this  reason,  I  always  keep 
my  patients  at  their  business,  especially  if  in  active  and  out 
of  door  occupations.  When  in  consumption  you  retire  to  your 
beds,  it  is  usually  the  last  place  before  the  grave.  Again  let 
me  say  to  the  consumptive,  keep  out  as  long  as  possible.  Do 
not  be  enticed  into  the  house  by  the  sympathy  of  friends,  or  the 
advice  of  physicians,  and  do  not  take  reducing  and  strength- 
destroying  medicines. 

Changes  of  air,  and  with  it  changes  of  location. 

Supposing  all  the  while  that  you  are  usino;  your  proper  rem- 
edies for  consumption,  as  1  have  before  remarked,  and  shall  still 
again  notice,  changes  of  air  will  be  found  of  vast  benefit,  if 
you  have  the  means  of  doing  it,  and  at  the  same  time  your  mind 
is  tranquil.  Going  from  the  valleys  to  the  high  lands,  from  the 
city  to  the  country,  from  the  mountains  to  the  valleys  from  the 
country  to  the  city,  leaving  lakes  of  water  and  the  seaboard, 
and  retiring  a  few  miles  into  the  country,  away  from  much 
water  and  on  dry  situations.  In  your  new  location,  take  a^ 
much  air  as  you  can  by  walking,  riding  in  a  carriage  or  on 
horseback,  etc.  If  you  gain  much  in  one  location,  stay  there 
just  as  long  as  you  improve  or  decidedly  hold  your  own,  cr  do 
not  go  back  any. 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  105 

JOURNEYS. 

Long  and  pleasant  journeys,  and  not  too  fatiguing,  such  as 
on  horseback,  or  on  foot,  or  in  a  carriage,  will  often,  if  properly 
managed,  contribute  much  to  a  recovery.  Great  care  should 
be  taken  at  all  times,  and  in  all  exercises,  not  to  overcome 
yourself  by  too  much  exhausting  your  strength. 

In  February,  1844,  I  was  requested  to  see  Mr.  Wef.ster,  a 
respectable  merchant  of  Boston.  On  visiting  him,  I  found  him 
very  comfortable,  and  occupying  two  very  fine  rooms  in  his 
own  house.  The  temperature  of  the  rooms  was  kept  steady, 
etc,  in  a  very  pleasant  situation,  and  condition.  On  examin- 
in0"  his  chest,  1  felt  confident  that  he  could  be  cured,  and  told 

O  ' 

him  and  his  friends  so.  At  any  rate,  I  felt  the  utmost  assu- 
rance, with  the  care  he  was  taking  of  himself,  that  most 
likely  he  would  live  six  or  eight  months  without  my  aid.  Dif- 
ferent counsels  prevailed,  and  he  was  persuaded  a  change  of 
climate  would  be  a  far  better  cure  than  to  place  himself  under 
my  care.  In  pursuance  of  this,  about  the  first  days  of  March, 
the  worst  month  of  the  year,  he  broke  up  his  pleasant  and  per- 
fect winter  quarters,  and  went  by  boats  and  railways  to  Balti 
more,  and  thence  to  Norfolk,  in  Virginia.  Far  better  would  it 
have  been  for  him,  to  have  gone  to  Canada  at  that  season.  He 
died  in  four  weeks,  or  thereabouts.  In  April,  his  body  was 
brought  back  to  Boston.  I  have  hardly  ever  witnessed  a  case 
that  filled  me  with  more  regret,  or  that  more  strikingly  exem- 
plified the  ignorance  and  bad  counsels  prevailing  on  the  subject 
of  consumption. 

SEA    VOYAGES. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  recommend  sea  voyages,  and  lately 
talk  is  made  of  long  sea  voyages,  and  some  say  they  would  be  a 
cure  if  the  voyages  were  long  enough.  To  this,  I  entirely  dis- 
sent. I  believe,  all  a  sea  voyage  will  do,  or  can  do,  is  gained 
in  five  or  six  weeks.  I  have  at  times  witnessed  the  most  heart 
rending  scenes  of  distress  from  this  caus-e.  Allow  me  to  say, 
that  a  bad  cold  will  often  get  well  by  going  to  sea,  but  if  actu- 


106  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


ai  consurnpt  on  is  present,  I  think  the  patient  is  better  on  land, 
than  long  at  sea.     I  will  give  one  case. 

Air.  Perkins,  of  New  London,  a  son  of  one  of  the  richest 

men  in  New  England,  and  by  his  mother  inheriting  consump- 
tion, after  being  out  of  health,  and  in  consumption  for  some 
time,  was  persuade.!,  advised,  and  by  all  that  could  be  said,  inci- 
ted to  leave  his  wife  and  six  interesting  children,  and  take  a 
voyage  in  a  whaling  ship  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  After  the 
most  heart-rending  separation,  almost  equal  to  death,  he  em- 
barked on  this  long,  this  dreary,  this  cheerless,  to  him  hopeless 
journey.  He  lived  to  reach  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  as  soon 
as  possible,  to  lose  no  time,  with  but  one  engrossing  hope,  that 
was  to  reach  his  home  and  die  in  the  presence  of  his  family, 
and  bestow  on  them  his  last  blessing.  This  was  denied  him. 
On  board  a  whale  ship,  far  from  all  he  loved,  he  died,  first  re- 
questing his  heart  to  be  taken  out  and  placed  in  an  urn,  and 
sent  to  his  wife  and  children,  as  the  husband's  and  father's  last 
gift.  1  was  in  New  London  when  the  ship  came  in  bearing 
the  tidings  of  his  death,  and  the  only  relic  of  his  person.  His 
body  found  a  resting  place  in  the  ocean.  How  much,  think 
you,  would  he  have  given  could  better  counsels  have  prevailed, 
and  he  been  allowed  to  have  spent  the  dreary  months  at  sea, 
with  his  fam.ly.  Allow  me  to  say  to  those  who  conjure  up 
fanciful  pictures  of  pleasure  at  sea,  that  the  ocean  is  a  perfect 
wild, howling  wilderness,  with  scarcely  a  single  object  or  inci- 
dent, save  accidents,  to  cheer  or  change  its  dreary  monotony. 
I  speak  this  from  amjle  personal  experience.  Peculiar  cases 
may  and  have  occurred,  but  as  a  general  experience,  it  is  very 
rare  that  any  person  in  consumption  was  ever  benefited  per 
manently  by  a  long  sea  voyage. 

WARM   CLIMATE. 

In  speaking  of  the  prevention  of  consumption,  I  gave  my 
views  of  a  warm  climate  as  a  preventive.  I  will  now  say  that 
as  a  curative  of  consumption,  nothing  can  be  more  fallacious. 
A  pair  of  broken  lungs  that  would  last  for  years  i-i  a  cold,  dry 
climate,  would  cease  to  act  at  all  in  a  few  weeks,  in  a  hot  cli- 
mate. Cold  air  is  a  good  tonic,  and  restorative  of  the  system. 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  107 


In  such  air,  even  a  small  piece  of  "healthy  lung  will  serve  to 
sustain  life,  whilst  the  same  lung  in  hot,  rarefied  air,  would  im 
mediately  lose  its  strength  and  die.  There  is  as  much  differ- 
ence in  the  nourishing  powers  of  cold  dry  air  and  of  thin  rar- 
efied air  in  sustaining  life,  as  between  wheat  flour  and  wheat 
bran.  Remember,  consumptive,  that  travel  wherever  you 
please,  you  cannot  travel  out  of  your  body.  The  disease  orig- 
inated in  your  own  body,  by  your  own  acts.  Your  cure  will 
depend  on  yourself,  and  the  use  of  the  remedies  indicated  in 
these  lectures.  Do  not  fancy  there  is  some  far-off  favored  spot, 
which,  if  you  could  reach,  it  would  be  found  exempt  from  con- 
sumption. No  such  place  exists  where  civilized  man  resides. 
Do  not  expend  all  your  strength  and  money  to  reach  such  a 
spot,  that  when  attained,  only  ails  you  with  the  cruelest  mock- 
cry  and  disappointment. 

RESPIRATORS. 

1  will  say  one  word  of  respirators,  and  of  any  thing  worn 
over  the  mouth,  and  used  to  modify  the  air,  and  keep  it  warm. 
In  some  cases  of  irritability  and  inflammation  of  the  air  pipes 
only,  or  throat,  they  may  be  useful  for  a  short  time  ;  but  in 
general,  they  weaken  the  lungs,  and  tend  to  produce  consump- 
tion, instead  of  curing  it  or  preventing  it.  I  all  but  never 
recommend  their  use.  In  disease  of  the  air  pipes  only,  they 
may  be  used  at  times. 

Under  what  condition  of  the  lungs  may  we  hope  for  a  cure  of 
consumption  ? 

You  in  ay  now  ask  under  what  condition  of  the  lungs  may 
we  hope  for  a  cure  of  consumption.  I  will  endeavor  to  group 
off  classes  of  cases  which  usually  occur  in  one  or  other  form. 

The  first  case  I  will  mention  is  as  follows  :  Suppose  a  person 
to  have  lost  father  or  mother,  brothers  or  sisters,  of  consump 
tion,  or  who  is  in  any  way  predisposed  to  consumption  by  in- 
heriting it,  or  by  having  long  continued  colds,  influenza,  pleu- 
risy, lung  fever,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  or  scrofula,  or  a  humor 
struck  in, or  confined  by  any  debilitating  causes.  In  men,  dis- 
sipation sometimes,  in  ladies,  confinements,  miscarrying,  falling 


108  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

of  the  womb,  and  by  this,  confined  to  bed  or  deprived  of  exer- 
cise, female  weakness,  irregularity  of  the  months,  etc.,  etc  ;  or 
in  both  sexes,  by  wounds  or  injuries  causing  confinement  and 
debility,  or  dyspepsia,  or  liver  complaint,  or  spine  disease,,  or 
fistula  and  its  consequences,  or  bleeding  at  the  lungs,  or  long 
ontinued  fevers,  or  rheumatism.  I  say,  suppose  a  person 
arfected  by  one  or  more  of  the  above  named  causes,  or  of  any 
thing  leading  to  debility  and  predisposition  to  consumption,  and 
such  a  person  is  taken  with  or  without  a  pain  about  the  chest, 
with  an  obscure  hacking  cough,  slight,  and  not  alarming,  or 
causing  much  attention,  after  a  while  it  increases  until  it  be- 
comes habitual,  more  or  less,  night  and  day.  Easily  excited  on 
exercise,  laughing  or  talking  much,  may  be  most  on  laying 
down,  or  rising,  or  going  into  a  cold  room,  or  in  the  air,  more 
or  less  shortness  of  breathing,  quick  pulse?more  or  less  followed 
after  a  while  with  much  debility,  disinclination  to  do  anything, 
and  much  wearied  if  they  do,  pain  in  the  side,  across  the  top 
of  the  chest,  between  the  shoulders,  under  the  shoulder  blades, 
down  the  arms,  running  from  the  breast  bone  to  the  spine,  and 
pain  its  whole  length;  coughing  nights  and  days,  daily  chills, 
daily  fever,  wasting  night  sweats,  occasional  bleeding  at  the 
lungs,  and  the  cough  dry  without  any  expectoration,  lungs 
highly  congested.  Consumption  thus  far  is  as  curable  as  the 
ague  and  fever,  with  suitable  medicines,  inhaling  tube,  shoulder 
braces,  snpporter,  etc.,  etc.,  as  1  have  before  indicated.  I  never 
yet  have  had  a  case  of  consumption  as  far  as  this,  that  I  have 
failed  of  curing  when  the  patient  did  his  duty  to  my  remedies 
and  directions. 

SECOND    GROUP. 

Suppose  a  patient  to  have  all,  or  some  of  the  symptoms  men- 
tioned in  the  first  group,  and  in  addition,  he  had  ulcerated  lungs, 
in  the  tops  of  one  or  both  lungs  in  front,  and  his  cough,  in  place 
of  being  dry,  is  humid ;  or  in  other  words,  he  raises  a  good  deal 
of  frothy  or  thick  cream-like  matter,  with  little  specks  of  cheesy 
matter  in  it ;  but  his  strength  is  such,  he  is  able  to  be  about  his 
business  somewhat,  and  the  rest  of  his  lungs  are  good,  or  nearly 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  109 


so,  and  his  or  her  general  strength  is  not  entirely  gone,  or 
greatly  so.  Cases  of  this  kind  are  eminently  curable  ;  say  at 
least  eight  out  of  ten  will  get  well. 

THIRD   GROUP. 

Suppose  a  person  who  has  the  diseases,  £,c.,  and  the  condition 
more  or  less  of  the  first  and  second  group,  and  raises  the  same 
matter,  but  in  addition  has  a  little  phthisic,  or  asthma,  or  heart 
disease  ;  all  such  cases,  with  hardly  a  solitary  exception,  are 
curable,  and  often  in  a  moderately  short  time.  I  always  feel 
most  gratified,  if  I  find  traces  of  asthma  in  the  lungs,  or  in  parts 
of  them,  as  1  can  usually  prognosticate  a  happy  recovery.  The 
same  remarks  apply  to  the  presence  of  heart  disease,  with  any 
or  all  of  the  symptoms  or  states  of  the  lungs  I  have  before 
mentioned. 

FOURTH   GROUP. 

Suppose  cases  of  a  person,  or  of  persons,  who  have  lost  nearly 
all  of  one  lung,  or  all  of  it,  and  the  other  lung  is  gond,  or  a 
little  asthmatic.  The  cure  of  such  persons  becomes  doubtful, 
and  in  many  cases  impossible,  especially  if  there  is  disease  in 
the  other  ;  yet  I  know  persons  who  enjoy  fair  health,  and  do  a 
goodly  amount  of  labor  and  business,  who  have  lost  one  lung, 
or  carry  it  in  their  chests  a  mass  of  disease.  Cases  at  times  occui 
\\here  one  lung  is  lost  entirely;  it  wastes  by  disease  until 
nothing  remains  of  it.  This  is  usually  foui;d  in  the  left  lung, 
but  at  times  in  the  right.  Yet  such  is  the  restorative  powers 
of  the  system,  that  a  person  may  lose  one  lung,  and  live  to  old 
age  with  the  other.  At  times  the  entire  loss  of  the  left  lung 
will  take  place,  and  the  heart  losing  its  support,  will  act  most 
irregularly,  and  give  rise  to  the  opinion  on  the  part  of  the  medi- 
cal advisers,  that  there  is  a  terrible  heart  disease  present.  I  have 
frequently  witnessed  these  mistakes  on  the  part  of  physicians 
not  skilled  and  experienced  in  the  art  of  examining  the  lungs. 
I  was  consulted  a  day  or  two  past  hy  a  lady  for  her  infant  child, 
eight  months  old,  that  had  been  suffering  with  a  difficulty  in  its 
breathing  since  it  was  four  days  old.  The  physician  proaoimc- 


110  CURE  OP  CONSUMPTION. 

ed  it  a  heart  disease.  On  examining,  I  found  the  heart  well, 
but  the  left  iung  was  all  but  entirely  lost,  it  wn?  extremely 
diseased. 

FIFTH   GJIOUP. 

Under  this  group,  I  introduce  all  those  cases  where  there  is 
extensive  disease  at  the  bottoms  of  the  lungs,  or  where  there  is 
extensive  disease  and  ulceration  any  where  in  the  lungs,  and  the 
rest  of  the  lungs  badly  tuberculated,  and  with  this  state  the 
general  health  much  wasted  and  broken.  In  females,  the 
monthly  turns  long  since  ceased,  dyspeptic,  often  vomiting  and 
chronic  diarrhea,  and  the  powers  of  the  constitution  very  much 
prostrated.  Although  I  have  seen  such  cases  terminate  in  a 
perfect  recovery  ;  yet  in  the  larger  number  of  cases,  the  patient 
sinks  to  his  final  rest.  In  females,  I  have  never  lost  a  consump- 
tive patient  who  had  regular,  monthly  periods. 

Finally,  there  is  a  great  difference  in  the  amount  of  disease 
and  destruction  of  the  lungs  some  persons  will  bear  and  live, 
whilst  one  half  the  injury  in  another  person  would  terminate 
fatally.  This  is  owing  to  the  difference  in  the  constitution  of  dif- 
ferent persons.  I  have  known  a  child  die  from  a  scratch  on  its 
finger,  so  feeble  the  powers  of  its  constitution  as  to  allow  the 
finger  to  mortify,  and  death  follow.  I  have  known  a  man  to 
receive  seventeen  stabs  with  a  dirk  in  his  limbs  and  body,  and 
yet  recover.  1  have  known  persons  whose  constitutions  were 
so  frail,  either  by  habit  or  inheritance,  that  a  very  slight  ulcer- 
ation of  the  lungs  would  quite  suffice  to  sweep  them  away, 
whilst  another  would  be  about  and  doing  a  little  business,  with 
a  loss  of  half  the  lungs.  From  the  general  and  almost  univer- 
sal belief  that  consumption  is  incurable,  and  the  exceedingly 

111  success  that  follows  the  usual  practice   of  medicine  in  its 
treatment,  persons  inclined  or  predisposed  to  it,  are  the  last  to 
acknowledge  it,  or  to  ask  aid.     Their  friends  usually  speak  of  it 
long  before  they  do.     Let  me  address  such   in  the  language  of 
the  deepest  sympathy.     Your  disease  is  eminently  curable,  and 
in  its  earlier  stages,  only  a  short  time   is  required  to  produce  a 
cure.     You  can  have  a  perfect  command  of  its  progress.     Do 
not  allow  it  to  progress  beyond  the  first  stages.     Do  not  wait 


CURE  OF  ASTHMA.  Ill 

until  your  lungs  are  badly  ulcerated.  Do  not,  whilst  consump- 
tion is  on  you,  say,  "  i  am  not  sick  enough  to  doctor,  or  use 
remedies." 

Again,  let  me  in  the  most  solemn  manner  conjure  the  con- 
sumptive, after  he  has  commenced  the  remedies  1  have  pointed 
out.  and  by  a  fair  trial,  find  yourself  improving,  do  not  leave 
off,  but  resolutely  and  patiently  persevere.  Every  step  you 
{rain,  will  give  you  strength  to  gain  more.  You  will  go  from 
victory  to  victory,  until  you  attain  to  perfect  health.  Some  of 
your  remedies,  you  should  never  lay  aside  j  such  as  bathing  in 
cold  water  daily,  and  with  it,  full  friction  of  the  whole  body, 
and  the  occasional  use  of  the  inhaling  tube  if  the  lungs  are 
stuffed  up,  or  oppressed,  or  painful ;  remembering,  after  your 
lungs  seem  well,  they  will  be  weak  where  they  were  once  dis- 
eased. A  relapse  is  dreadful.  It  is  no  trouble  for  me  to  cure 
consumption,  by  God's  blessing,  in  a  vast  many  case?;  but  the 
difficulty  is  to  induce  patients  to  persevere  in  their  remedies. 
Once  a  little  better,  keep  on  until  well ;  and  once  well,  use  the 
remedies  to  keep  so.  It  is  often  to  me  a  matter  of  profound 
surprise,  to  observe  persons,  who  in  consumption,  have  lived  for 
months  or  years,  in  view  of  an  open  coffin,  and  a  certain  grave, 
and  yet,  as  soon  as  relieved  of  consumption  and  all  feeling  of 
danger  past,  and  lungs  nearly  well,  in  multitudes  of  cases,  from 
pure  heedlessness  and  indolence,  or  on  some  frivolous  excuse  of 
not  convenient,  or  not  time,  or  a  continual  love  of  ease,  they 
will  lay  aside  their  remedies,  and  relapse  back  into  exactly 
the  same  habits  that  originally  induced  in  them  the  consumption 
Allow  me  to  say,  it  requires  from  six  months  to  three  years  to 
produce  a  radical  cure  of  consumption.  For  farther  instruc- 
tions to  the  consumptive,  see  lectures  four,  five  and  six,  in  this 
volume. 

ASTHMA   OR  PHTHISIC. 

With  your  permission,  I  will  say  to  you  a  few  words  on  the  sub- 
ject of  asthma.  The  causes  of  asthma,  or  phthisic,  as  it  is  often 
called,  are  as  obscure  to  all  medical  men,  or  nearly  all,  as  con- 
sumption, and  often  vastly  more  so.  The  causes  of  consumption 
are  obvious  and  palpable  ;  but  the  causes  of  asthma  are  usually 


112  CURti  OF  ASTHMA. 


an  entirely  sealed  book  to  them.  When  speaking  of  diseases  thai 
cure  consumption,  I  spoke  of  asthma  as  one.  I  now  propose 
to  speak  of  the  causes  of  asthma,  and  its  cure.  A  disease 
something  lilve  asthma  may  arise  from  ossification  of  the 
heart,  or  its  great  vessels,  but  these  cases  are  comparatively  rare. 
In  my  opinion,  asthma  always  arises  from  a  consumptive 
taint,  that  it  is  excited  by  the  same  influences  that  would  hasre 
],ruduced  consumption  ;  but  God  has  ordered,  that  in  place  of 
consumption,  an  opposite  train  of  symptoms  arise  that  vastly 
enlarge  the  chest,  in  place  of  allowing  it,  as  in  consumption, 
to  grow  smaller  and  contracted.  In  asthma,  the  air  cells  become 
vastly  enlarged,  like  grapes  on  a  stem,  whilst  their  necks  are 
tied  up,  as  with  a  thread,  and  then  the  air  is  allowed  to  enter 
the  luno*s,  but  not  to  return  with  ease,  so  that  the  air  is  not 

O  ' 

promp;ly  changed.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  asthmatic  feels 
the  utmost  sense  of  suffocation,  and  gasps  and  struggles  for 
breath  whilst  his  lungs  are  distended  to  their  utmost  capacity 
with  air.  He  cannot  lay  down  from  a  feeling  of  immediate  suf- 
focation, if  he  tries  to  do  so.  Thus  for  months  and  for  years,  he 
has  turns  when  he  cannot  lay  down  at  night,  but  sleeps  what 
little  he  does  sleep,  in  his  chair.  I  do  not  know  that  such  a 
thing  as  a  radical  cure  of  asthma  is  ever  hinted  at  in  the  books, 
or  any  plan  of  treatment  laid  down  that  will  be  of  any  per- 
manent benefit.  In  asthma,  the  chest  is  too  large  ;  in  consump- 
tion, it  is  too  small.  (See  plates  H  and  1.)  I  treat  asthma  pre- 
cisely as  if  it  were  a  consumption,  and  by  doing  so,  meet  with 
complete  and  almost  universal  success.  Asthma  is  far  easier  to 
cure  than  consumption  and  it  is  not  so  apt  to  recur  again.  Per- 
sons, who  at  considerable  intervals  have  fits  of  asthma,  may  hive 
it  cease  altogether,  and  consumption  take  its  place.  Have  it  and 
the  consumption  which  excites  it  cured,  and  all  is  well. 

In  the  lecture  on  the  proofs  of  the  cure  of  consumption,  see 
the  letters  on  the  results  of  the  treatment  of  asthma.  A  strong 
argument  with  me  in  favor  of  the  side  that  asthma  arises  from 
consumptive  influences,  I  find  in  the  fact,  that  asthmatic  parents 
have  consumptive  children,  and  some  of  the  same  family  of 
brothers  and  sisters  may  have  asthma,  and  others  have  con- 
sumption. 


CURE  OF  HEART  DISEASE.  113 


HEART  DISEASE. 

I  have  before  referred  to  the  fact,  that  consumption  is  often 
cured  by  irregular  actiow  of  the  heart,  and  by  disease  of  the 
heart.  The  heart  often  has  diseases  of  its  own,  independently 
of  association  or  sympathy  with  any  other  organs  ;  yet  there  is 
no  organ  of  the  whole  body  that  is  more  influenced  by  the  con- 
dition of  other  organs,  than  the  heart.  The  condition  of  the 
stomach  powerfully  influences  the  heart,  and  so  does  falling  of 
the  bowels  before  referred  to,  and  falling  of  the  womb,  and  so 
does  the  condition  of  the  lungs.  The  lungs,  the  stomach,  the 
bowels,  and  the  brain,  may  produce  what  seems  to  be  heart 
disease  when  the  heart  is  not  at  all  diseased.  The  heart  is  often 
greatly  affected  by  the  condition  of  the  walls  of  the  chest  itself. 
It  is  very  often  noticed  that  by  stooping  and  leaning  the 
shoulders  heavily  upon  the  chest,  it  is  contracted  at  its  base 
in  front,  and  the  breast  bone  thrown  flat  down  upon  the  heart, 
in  this  way  injuring  the  heart,  and  leading  to  the  opinion  there 
is  disease  of  the  heart,  when  there  is  no  disease  of  it  5  but  the 
walls  of  the  chest  have  closed  around  it,  and  the  heart  cannot 
act.  After  forty  years  of  age,  and  in  a  vast  many  cases  at  an 
earlier  period,  the  heart  begins  to  enlarge  in  multitudes  of 
persons,  and  if  the  chest  enlarges  also,  all  is  well ;  but  if  the 
chest  does  not  enlarge,  then  the  heart  is  compressed,  and  palpi- 
tation, suffocation  of  the  heart,  and  apoplexy  may  take  place. 
From  this  fact  is  explained  the  reason  why  we  have  little  heart 
disease  until  after  the  middle  periods  of  life. 

That  heart  diseases  often  arise  from  consumptive  influences,  1 
have  verified  in  a  vast  many  cases.  Knowing  this,  I  have  often 
ascertained  the  presence  of  heart  diseases,  in  one  or  both  parents, 
when  I  have  found  the  children  highly  consumptive  ;  yet  no- 
thing of  consumption  in  any  respect  had  shown  itself  in  the 
parents.  The  treatment  of  heart  disease,  in  a  vast  many  cases, 
is  required  to  be  the  same  as  we  find  necessary  in  consump- 
tion; in  fact,  with  a  little  modification,  I  treat  many  cases  of 
heart  disease  the  same  as  I  do  consumption,  and  often  have 
the  pleasure  of  entirely  curing  it,  when  all  hope  of  life  had  fled 

I  enlarge  the  chest ;  I  restore  as  soon  as  possible,  the  chest 


114  CURE  OF  HEART  DISEASE. 

and  all  parts  of  the  body  to  perfect  health  ;  if  necessary  use 
the  inhaling  tube,  shoulder  braces,  and  supporter  for  the  abdo- 
men ;  in  fact,  treat  the  heart  disease,  with  a  little  modification, 
as  1  do  consumption;  in  some  cases,  but  they  are  not  one  in 
twenty,  such  changes  have  taken  place  in  form  and  structure 
of  the  heart  itself,  as  to  render  a  cure  impossible. 

I  will  remark,  that  the  heart  is  placed  under  the  breast  bone, 
and  to  the  left  of  it.  Mostly  about  one  third  of  the  heart 
lies  to  the  right  of  the  centre  of  the  breast  bone,  and  two  thirds 
of  it  lies  to  the  left  of  the  centre  of  the  breast  bone  ;  so  the 
heart  Jias  the  breast  bone,  and  the  flexible  ends  of  the  ribs,  chiefly 
in  front  of  it,  the  spine  behind  it,  and  the  lungs  on  its  sides. 
(See  plate  D.)  You  will  see  by  its  commanding  and  peculiar 
position,  how  the  enlargement  of  the  heart  must  enlarge  the 
chest  at  its  base,  and  throw  back  the  top  of  the  frame,  and 
make  the  person  full  chested,  and  straight.  Now,  if  a  heavy 
pair  of  shoulders,  with  all  the  dependent  arms,  are  throwrn  for- 
ward upon  the  chest,  the  heart  cannot  enlarge,  and  must  be 
more  or  less  suffocated,  producing  palpitation  and  disease  of 
the  heart.  The  heart  is  supported  at  its  sides  by  the  lungs. 
Sometimes  one  lung,  from  some  reason  or  other,  will  waste 
away,  or  it  will  become  bad  and  shrink  up,  so  that  no  air  will 
pass  through  it.  The  heart,  in  such  a  case,  losing  its  support, 
will  beat  very  irregularly,  and  seern  to  be  greatly  diseased, 
when  in  fact  it  is  not  diseased  at  all.  The  condition  of  the 
heart  can  only  be  fully  detected  by  an  examination  by  a  per- 
son who  is  skilled  in  the  art  of  examining  the  chest,  and  thus 
ascertaining  the  actual  condition  of  the  heart  and  lungs,  and 
great  blood  vessels.  A  vast  many  mistakes,  and  those  the 
most  unhappy,  arise  from  the  examinations  of  medical  men 
whose  knowledge  and  experience  are  not  sufficient  to  deter- 
mine, with  certainty,  the  condition  of  the  lungs  and  heart.  I 
once  heard  a  medical  man,  of  considerable  eminence,  lecture 
against  the  idea  of  curing  consumption  by  expanding  the  chest, 
and  instanced  the  case  of  a  man  whom  he,  the  lecturer,  had 
doctored  for  some  time  for  heart  disease,  who  died;  and  after 
death,  his  chest  was  opened,  and  it  was  found  that  the  left  lung 
had  disappeared,  or  entirely  wasted  away  j  the  heart  was  well- 


CURE  OF  HEART  DISEASE.  115 

"Now,"  says  the  lecturer,  u  no  person  could  have  told  that 
the  lung  had  disappeared,  until  the  chest  was  examined  after 
death!"  In  September,  1844,  I  was  consulted  at  New  Britain, 
Connecticut,  by  a  man  who  was  subject  to  fits.  He  usually 
had  about  five  fits  in  the  day  time,  and  three  at  night.  He 
would  lose  his  consciousness  at  the  time,  yet  not  fall  down, 
but  would  seize  hold  of  anything  in  his  reach,  and  endeavor 
to  break  it,  even  to  grnsp  the  blade  of  a  scythe.  His  appear- 
ance was  that  of  an  idiot.  The  fits  had  gre  tly  impaired  his 
mind,  and  all  the  powers  both  of  mind  and  body.  He  was 
a  shoemaker,  and  stooped  very  much  ;  his  shoulders  lay  more 
upon  the  chest,  than  any  case  I  had  ever  seen ;  I  found  on  ex- 
amining his  chest,  that  the  breast  bone  lay  upon  his  heart,  and 
pressed  hard  down  upon  it  more  than  I  had  ever  seen  in  any  case  ; 
and  that  the  pressure  of  the  breast  bone  upon  the  heart  was  so 
great  that  the  blood  could  not  pass  well  through  the  heart.  About 
three  times  every  day,  the  blood  would  so  accumulate  as  to 
stop  the  action  of  the  heart,  and  prevent  the  blood  returning 
from  the  brain,  and  this  would  cause  a  loss  of  consciousness, 
and  a  fearful  sense  of  impending  dissolution.  He  would  usu- 
ally have  two  fits  every  night ;  any  excitement  would  make 
the  number  of  fits  greater.  I  considered  the  disease  to  be  en- 
tirely mechanical,  proceeding  from  the  breast  bone  pressing 
upon  the  heart.  I  at  once  put  on  him  a  pair  of  stout  shoulder 
braces,  to  bring  the  shoulders  off  the  chest,  directed  him  to 
stand  up  straight,  and  not  to  stoop,  and  if  he  felt  a  fit  coming 
on,  to  throw  himself  back,  and  to  throw  his  shoulders  as  much 
as  possible  off  the  chest,  and  to  avoid  stooping.  I  also  gave 
him  a  little  medicine  to  assist  and  take  away  any  irritability  of 
the  heart  &c.  In  seven  days  he  came  back ;  he  had  had  but 
one  fit  in  the  day  time,  and  two  at  night,  three  for  the 
whole  week.  The  idiotic  expression  of  his  face  was  gone ; 
he  had  not  passed  such  a  week  for  many  years  ;  he  experienced 
that  on  feeling  the  least  trouble  at  his  heart,  or  distress  at  the 
pit  of  his  stomach,  that  always  preceded  a  fit,  by  throwing 
himself  backwards  and  throwing  his  shoulders  back,  and  throw- 
ing open  his  chest  so  as  to  lift  up  the  breast  bone  a  little,  the 
circulation  of  blood  went  on  through  the  heart,  and  no  fit  would 


116  CURE  OF  HEART  DISEASE. 

take  place.  I  will  give  one  more  case  out  of  a  great  many. 
In  Octob  r,  184-3,  I  was  consulted  at  Nashua,  New  Hampshire, 
by  a  young  gentleman,  seventeen  years  of  age,  who  had  a  most 
distressing  affection  of  the  heart;  his  face  wore  a  blue  corpse- 
like  appearance,  arid  he  was  entirely  unable  to  do  any  business, 
could  only  walk  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  had  been  obliged 
to  lea\v  off  all  occupation.  He  had  consulted  the  first  medical 
men  in  Boston,  who  gave  him  but  little  hope  of  recovery  ;  he 
had  great  palpitation  of  the  heart,  which  was  greatly  aggra- 
vated on  the  least  exercise.  On  examining  his  chest,  I  found 
the  breast  bone  pressed  heavily  upon  the  heart,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent a  free  circulation  of  blood  through  it,  from  which  resulted 
all  his  illness;  he  was  also  very  scrofulous.  I  put  on  him  a 
pair  of  shoulder  braces  and  gave  him  an  inhaling  tube,  to  fully 
expand  his  chest,  and  also  suitable  medicines  to  cure  the  irri- 
tability of  the  heart,  and  directed  all  the  remedies  as  I  would 
for  consumption,  save  cough  medicines.  The  young  man  im- 
proved with  the  greatest  rapidity.  Four  weeks  after,  I  met 
him  at  a  ball.  He  did  not  take  much  part  in  the  dance,  but 
was  vastly  better,  and  I  believe  has  perfectly  recovered.  It  is 
of  great  consequence  that  the  heart  rule  the  chest  and  govern 
the  lungs.  A  regular,  symmetrical  enlargement  of  the  heart 
and  great  vessels  rarely  does  any  hurt,  provided  the  chest  en- 
larges with  it.  But  if  the  chest  does  not  enlarge,  or  the  heart 
enla  ges  irregularly,  then  the  case  is  full  of  danger.  Some- 
tim  s  one  side  of  the  heart  will  enlarge  more  than  the  other 
side,  &c.,  &c.  In  this  case  danger  arises. 

Costiveness,  dyspepsia,  rheumatism,  gout  on  the  heart,  ossj- 
fication  of  it,  &,c.,  &c.,  will  all  incline  to  produce  changes  in 
the  heart,  and  should  be  obviated  and  cured  ;  also  great  loss  of 
blood  by  design  or  accident  will  injure  the  heart,  and  cause 
great  nervousness ;  for  a  long  time  producing  palpitation  of  the 
heart,  which  wil  at  times  lead  to  disease  of  it.  I  think  heart 
diseases  easily  managed,  and  in  a  vast  many  cases  cured  ;  espe- 
cially in  scrofulous  subjects,  and  in  persons  who  have  consump- 
tion, or  who  have  had  it,  or  who  are  predisposed  to  it.  Soften- 
ing of  the  heart  is  a  rare  disease,  of  which  I  have  met  but  two 
cases  in  this  country  $  therefore  I  do  not  speak  of  it. 


MINERAL  WATERS.  117 


MINERAL   WATERS. 

In  the  progress  of  the  lecture,  I  have  not  spoken  a  word  of 
mineral  waters,  as  a  matter  of  prevention  or  a  curative  agent 
in  consumption.  This  subject  is  too  extensive  to  dwell  much 
upon,  save  in  general  remarks.  In  seated  consumption,  when 
the  lungs  are  ulcerated,  I  know  of  no  waters  that  will  he  of 
any  benefit.  This  leads  me  to  speak  of  the  Red  Sulphur 
Springs,  in  Virginia.  The  last  summer,  at  an  immense 
expense  in  time  and  great  sacrifice  of  personal  ease,  1  visited 
that  celebrated  spring.  1  found  a  most  valuable  spring  of  wa- 
ter, which  had  suffered  greatly  in  its  reputation  from  having 
too  much  imputed  to  it.  Too  many  virtues  claimed  for  it  had, 
from  the  numerous  disappointments  and  heart-rending  distres-s, 
produced  from  this  cause,  injured  the  reputation  of  the  spring. 
Few  persons  were  there  ;  and  not  one  person,  as  far  as  I  knew, 
who  had  badly  ulcerated  lungs,  had  derived  much  benefit. 
This  water,  had  it  been  praised  for  what  it  really  is,  w.mld 
stand  most  pre-eminently  high,  and  almost  alone  in  some  of  its 
properties.  It  has  an  influence  in  reducing  irritation  and  in- 
flammation of  the  mucous  membrane,  or  the  skin  that  cavers  the 
inside  of  the  throat,  the  air  pipes,  and  the  cells  of  the  lungs, 
and  the  skin  that  covers  the  interior  of  the  gullet,  the  stomach 
and  bowels,  and  the  internal  lining  of  the  bladder,  the  womb, 
&c.  In  all  descriptions  of  catarrh,  this  water  is  valuable  It 
is  well  known  that  an  inflammation  of  the  skin  that  lines  the 
inside  of  the  throat,  or  lungs,  will  produce  a  severe  cough,  and 
some  expectoration  and  fever,  highly  excited  pulse;  night  sweats, 
&c.  Such  persons  often  derive  great  benefit  from  this  spring, 
but  not  always.  In  inflammation  of  the  stomach,  and  in  irrita- 
tion about  the  heart,  and  in  dyspepsia,  and  costiveness,  or  chro- 
nic diarrhoea,  this  is  a  most  unique  and  valuable  water.  In 
many  kinds  of  kidney  diseases,  fluor  albus,  &c..  the  water  is 
most  valuable.  Its  reputation  should  never  be  placed  on  ulce- 
rated lungs,  but  on  dyspepsia,  heart  diseases,  bowel  complaint, 
and  diseases  of  the  bladder,  womb,  &c.  Persons  who  propose 
to  visit  the  Red  Sulphur  Springs,  should,  before  concluding, 
have  the  chest  examined,  and  if  their  lungs  are  ulcerated,  not 


118  .    MINERAL  WATERS. 

go  at  all ;  or  at  all  events,  they  will  hardly  realize  any  thing 
biit  cruel  fatigue,  and  still  more  cruel  disappointment.  I  wish 
here  to  thank  the  gentlemanly  proprietors  of  the  spring,  for 
their  politeness  to  me  the  last  summer.  I  consider  the  spring 
one  of  the  first  on  earth,  for  its  efficacy  in  the  cases  and  diseases 
I  have  before  indicated.  I  do  not  know  another  mineral  spring 
in  the  world,  that  is  so  beneficial  in  heart  diseases.  In  cases 
where  there  are  no  ulcers  on  the  lungs,  but  where  the  lungs  are 
only  irritable,  or  inflamed  from  tubercles  not  yet  softened,  or 
when  there  has  been  some  bleeding  from  the  lungs,  for  all  these 
cases,  but  no  ulcerations  in  the  lungs,  the  Red  Sulphur  Spring 
water  will  be  found  highly  useful  in  most  instances. 

IRON   PURGATIVE   WATERS. 

In  persons  of  bilious  pulmonary  habits,  or  who  are  usually 
bilious,  and  incline  to  a  cough  or  pains  about  the  chest,  the  wa 
ters  that  have  iron  and  magnesia,  soda,  &c.,  in  them,  are  valuable. 
In  other  words,  the  purgative  iron  waters,  such  as  those  of  Sara- 
toga, are  of  vast  value  in  putting  the  system  in  such  a  state  of 
health  as  will  ward  off  consumption ;  but  are  in  nearly  all 
cases  injurious,  if  the  lungs  are  ulcerated.  These  also  usually 
much  benefit  scrofulous  persons,  who  have  no  ulcerated  lungs. 

SULPHUR    WATERS. 

In  persons  who  are  scrofulous,  or  have  any  skin  disease,  or 
a  humor  in  the  blood,  which  has  struck  in,  or  who  suffer  from 
the  bad  effects  of  mercury,  &c.,  who  have  reason  to  suspect  a 
cough  or  distress  about  the  chest  to  arise  from  a  humor,  salt 
rheum,  erysipelas,  or  any  thing  of  that  kind,  will  find  great 
benefit  in  many  cases  from  using  the  sulphur  purgative  waters. 
These  waters  abound  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  and 
are  seldom  useful  if  the  lungs  are  ulcerated  ;  otherwise  may 
be  used  for  the  cases  I  have  named.  Sulphur  waters  are  round 
in  many  parts  of  this  country.  The  White  and  Blue,  and  Salt 
Sulphur  Springs  in  Virginia,  are  very  noble  waters.  I  think 
the  Salt  Sulphur  a  superb  spring  of  water.  These  springs  are 
not  surpassed  in  Virginia.  There  are  two  very  fine  sulphur 
springs  near  the  north  end  of  Lake  Champlain.  One  is  at  Alburgh, 


MINERAL  WATERS.  119 


and  the  other  is  at  Highgate, — both  near  Canada  line.  Of  the 
Alburgh  I  have  no  knowledge,  save  by  report,  which  speaks 
well  of  it.  I  have  visited  the  Highgate  spring.  The  accom- 
modations are  very  good,  and  the  spring  of  water  is  very  good. 
The  A\on  Springs,  near  Rochester,  in  the  elate  of  New 
York,  are  valuable  sulphur  waters. 

HOT   MINERAL    WATERS. 

I  have  visited  the  hot  and  warm  springs  in  Virginia,  and  the 
hot  springs  at  Aix-la-chapelle,  and  at  Wis  Baden  in  Germany ; 
and  as  far  as  I  have  ever  known  or  observed  in  Europe,  or  this 
country,  I  believe  the  hot  mineral  waters,  either  for  bathing  or 
to  drink,  are  very  injurious  to  the  consumptive,  and  should  be 
most  carefully  avoided. 

Allow  me  now  to  conclude  this  lecture  by  observing,  that  I 
have  only  indicated  the  general  plan  of  treatment.  It  is  im- 
possible to  go  into  details  in  such  a  lecture  as  this.  I  am  now 
preparing  a  large  work  on  the  Lungs,  for  medical  men,  in  which 
t  propose  to  give  what  I  know  upon  the  subject  in  all  the  de- 
tails, and  a  careful  account  of  all  the  medicines  I  have  found 
aseful.  I  must  remark,  that  every  case  of  consumption  1  ever 
saw,  requires,  or  did  require  the  aid  of  medicines,  more  or  less, 
for  some  or  all  of  the  following  intentions — to  equalize  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood — to  support  the  strength — to  purify  and 
fortify,  and  enrich  the  blood — to  regulate  the  digestion — to  cor- 
rect the  bowels — to  remove  irritation — to  subdue  the  cough — to 
renovate  the  functions  of  the  skin,  or  to  remove  obstructions  in 
the  functions  of  the  liver  or  kidneys  ;  and  in  females,  to  cure 
their  peculiar  diseases.  The  patients  should  never  be  drugged. 
They  require  but  little  medicine,  but  that  should  be  efficient  and 
perfectly  applicable  to  the  case ;  otherwise  medicines  will  be 
found  hurtful  rather  than  useful. 


X 

LECTURE    THIRD. 

ON  THE  PROOFS  OF  THE  CURE  OF  PULMONARY 
CONSUMPTION. 

LADIES   AND   GENTLEMEN: 

MY  first  lecture  to  you  was  on  the  uses  of  the  lungs  and  the 
causes  of  pulmonary  consumption.  The  second  was  upon  the 
prevention  and  cure  of  pulmonary  consumption.  My  ohject  heing 
to  enlighten  your  minds  in  the  clearest  manner  upon  these  sub- 
jects, and  in  this  way  to  obtain  your  fullest  confidence,  for  with- 
out confidence  in  what  I  say,  my  words  are  of  no  more  conse- 
quence to  you  than  the  sound  of  a  "tinkling  cymbal." 

There  is  no  class  of  persons  who  are  more  apt  to  be  indolent, 
and  more  readily  despond  and  give  up.  than  consumptive  patients; 
and  particularly  those  who  believe  that  they  have  an  hereditary 
predisposition  to  consumption,  because  some  relation  has  died  of 
it.  To  prevent  or  cure  consumption,  requires  a  great  deal  of 
effort  from  the  patient,  the  price  of  his  or  her  health  being  con- 
stant vigilance.  The  consumptive  must  never  forget  the  atten- 
tion due  to  his  health.  Under  some  circumstances,  a  few  months, 
or  even  weeks,  of  neglect,  will  bring  on  the  disease,  or  render 
his  case  hopeless,  if  he  already  have  it.  Unless  I  can  obtain  the 
confidence  of  the  consumptive  and  his  friends,  he  cannot  be  in- 
duced to  persevere  in  the  use  of  his  remedies.  Sometimes  I  ob- 
tain the  confidence  of  the  patient,  but  not  of  his  friends.  Often 
J  have  witnessed,  from  the  influence  of  skeptical  advisers,  the 
patient  lay  aside  his  remedies,  and  sink  into  hopeless  disease,  at 
the  very  moment  improvement  had  commenced  in  his  health,  and 
a  few  weeks  of  perseverance  would  have  placed  him  out  of  dan- 
ger. No  opinion  is  more  widely  spread,  and  no  prejudice  more 
deeply  rooted,  than  that  consumption  is  an  incurable  disease.  I 
have  heard  one  instance  of  a  highly  respectable  clergyman  pro- 
nouncing it  blasphemous  to  say  that  consumption  was  curable, 


PROOFS  OF  THE  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  121 

because  God  Himself  had  made  it  incurable.  In  this  feeling  no 
persons  participate  more  than  vast  numbers  of  physicians,  form- 
ing a  very  large  portion  of  the  medical  faculty.  With  many  of 
these,  nothing  can  subdue  their  prejudices,  nothing  can  cause 
them  to  seek  new  light  upon  the  subject.  If  a  person  that  they 
pronounce  to  be  in  full  consumption,  and  a  case  hopelessly  in- 
curable,  yet,  when  they  see  such  a  person  get  well,  they  declare 
that  he  never  had  consumption.  I  recollect  one  case,  of  a  pa- 
tient who  called  in  an  old  and  very  distinguished  physician,  to 
examine  his  chest,  and  give  his  opinion  of  his  case.  After  a  care- 
ful examination  of  the  case,  he  rebuked  the  attending  physician 
for  calling  him  in,  adding  that  he  "  never  saw  a  more  hopeless 
case  of  consumption  ;  that  it  was  true  consumption,  and  that  the 
patient  would  die  very  soon."  About  nine  months  after  this,  the 
patient,  having  recovered,  went  to  this  sam^  physician,  and  re- 
ported his  recovery  to  him,  and  requesreo  the  physician  to  ex- 
amine his  chest  and  see  if  he  were  not  entirely  well.  The  phy- 
sician expressed  much  surprise  at  the  apparent  recovery,  and  on 
the  patienfs  assuring  him  that  he  was  perfectly  well,  he  refused 
to  examine  nis  chest,  and  said,  "  It  your  lungs  are  now  well,  you 
never  have  had  consumption  ;  for  I  hold  it  to  be  an  eternal 
truth,  that  no  person  ever  yet  got  well  of  diseased  lungs."  So 
that  you  will  remark  that  the  patient  has  not  only,  sometimes,  to 
war  against  his  own  despondency  and  fears,  but  also  against  his 
skeptical  friends  and  advisers,  and  also  against  the  vehement  as- 
severations of,  perhaps,  his  family  physician,  that  his  case  is  en- 
tirely hopeless,  and  that  no  remedy  whatever  can  be  of  the  least 
permanent  benefit  to  him.  You  will  see,  then,  how  all-important 
i  it  is  that  I  have  the  perfect  confidence  of  the  patient  and  of  his 
friends,  and,  if  possible,  of  his  medical  advisers,  so  that  the  pa- 
tient shall  faithfully  and  perseveringly  employ  his  remedies. 

If  I  can  obtain  the  confidence  of  the  patient  and  his  immediate 
friends,  I  am  satisfied,  and  patiently  wait  until  his  physician  can 
witness  the  effect  of  remedies.  There  are  many  physicians  who, 
under  any  circumstances,  utterly  refuse  to  believe,  if  I  may  use 
the  exoression,  their  own  senses,  and  after  pronouncing  a  patient 
in  hopeless  consumption,  and  afterwards,  seeing  the  patient  get 
well,  will  then  blacken  their  own  reputation  by  declaring  the  pa- 
0 


129  PROOFS  OF  THE 

tient  never  had  consumption,  and  then  denounce  the  idea  of 
its  curability  as  a  dangerous  and  even  criminal  notion.  Has  in- 
terest anything  to  do  with  this  ?  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  as 
I  have  said  in  a  former  lecture,  that  many  physicians  should  op- 
pose the  curability  of  consumption,  for,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out 
of  a  hundred,  nearly  every  remedy  laid  down  in  the  books,  and 
adopted  in  practice,  is  calculated  to  make  the  disease,  and  not  to 
cure  it.  So  that  to*  adopt  correct-  treatment  of  consumption, 
nearly  all  previous  authority  and  experience  on  the  subject  must 
be  laid  asttie,  and  entirely  new  ideas  and  a  new  course  of  prac- 
tice  be  adopted.  However,  it  always  takes  more  or  less  time  for 
the  spread  of  truth.  Allow  me  now  to  make  a  remark  to  you, 
that  in  all  nature  and  in  all  things  known  to  us,  there  are  very 
few  original  principles  or  original  roots  or  causes  of  things.  For 
example :  gravitation  is  probably  an  original  principle  in  na- 
ture. Truth  is  also  an  originial  principal  in  nature.  The 
mind  travelling  Lack  on  this  idea,  carries  itself  to  the  throne 
of  God,  and  is  then  forced  to  believe  and  instantly  adopts  the  idea 
that  God  is  truth.  Now  it  is  a  most  astounding  fact,  and  emi- 
nently deserving  of  our  notice,  that  truth  has  but  one  offspring, 
which  is  usefulness.  This  is  an  everlasting  and  never-failing 
test  of  the  presence  or  absence  of  truth  ;  so  that  whatever  is  true 
is  useful.  The  converse  is  also  true,  that  whatever  is  useless  is 
false,  and  whatever  is  false  is  useless.  To  prove  this,  I  could 
cite  to  you  numberless  examples,  but  I  leave  it  for  you  to  do. 
Follow  the  idea  yourselves,  and  you  will  find  it  a  perfect  guide 
in  the  pursuit  of  truth.  By  this  test,  aided  by  reasonable  time, 
you  will  very  soon  be  able  to  know  what  is  true  or  what  is  false, 
and  to  detect  where  there  is  a  mixture  of  truth  and  falsehood. 
I  know  what  I  have  taught  to  you,  on  the  uses  of  the  lungs  and 
causes  of  consumption,  and  upon  the  prevention  and  cure  of  con- 
sumption, to  be  eminently  true,  because  I  have  witnessed,  in  a 
great  number  of  cases  of  diseased  lungs,  that  it  was  decidedly 
useful.  You  may  now  ask  me,  if  I  cure  every  case  of  consump. 
tion  that  is  presented  to  my  notice,  and  solicits  my  aid  ?  /  an- 
swer  most  unhesitatingly,  I  do  not ;  and  because  I  do  not,  some 
persons  reject  the  idea  of  any  being  benefited ;  but  I  deliberately 
assert,  that  I  cure  eight  cases  out  of  every  ten,  when  the  patients 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  123 


124  PROOFS  OF  THE 

that  of  your  friends,  carefully  and  candidly  investigate  these 
cases*;  and  if  you  find  in  them  all,  one  case  that  you  believe  to 
have  been  consumption,  and  that  it  has  been  cured,  then  lay  aside 
prejudice  and  doubt  on  this  subject,  and  proclaim  consumption 
a  curable  disease;  and,  of  course,  if  curable  after  being  formed, 
its  formation  may  always  be  prevented. 

Again,  I  beseech  you,  give  me  your  confidence  so  far  as  to 
give  me  a  patient  hearing,  and   the  whole  subject  a  searching 
and  honest  investigation.     It  is  of  no  use  for  me  to  rise  up  before 
an   auditory  of  one  thousand    persons,  and   utter  a   falsehood, 
at   the   same  time  naming  time,  person,  and   place,  because  at 
once  one  or  more  persons  would  be  found  who  could  on   the  spot 
prove  or  disprove  what  I  assert.     I  have  repeatedly,  after  a  lee- 
,ture,  had  persons  call  on  me,  who  were  perfectly  acquainted  with 
the  truth  of  what  1  had  stated,  although  the  cases  had  occurred 
hundreds  of  miles  distant  from  the  place  of  the  lecture.     In  se- 
lecting these  letters,  1  have  taken  such  as  I  thought  would  pre- 
sent as  great  a  variety  of  symptoms  as   possible,  and  from  per- 
sons  who,  I   hope,  have   no  insuperable  objection  to  have  thei 
names  or  letters  made  public.     There  are  those  who  would  hardl 
have  their  names  exposed,   even  to  save    the   lives   of  others 
Should  any  be  surprised,  on  knowing  that  their  names  are  mad* 
public,  1  leg  of  them  not  to  be  offended,  as  the  importance  of  th( 
subject  would  seern  to  fully  justify  me  in  giving  names  and  re 
ferences  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner. 

Allow  me  to  say  one  word  to  the  consumptive  or  invalid.    Th< 
object    you    propose,    the   recovery  of  your  health,  is   one   oJlj 
vast   moment  to  you,  and  is  deserving  of  your  highest  efforts? 
Let  me  urge  you,  in  the  first  place,  to  have  confidence  in  you;n 
remedies;    and    in  the  second,  to  commence  their  use  with   th* 
greatest  caution.     If  not  accustomed  to  bathing,  commence  it  ah 
first  in  a  very  warm  room,  with  warm  salt  and  water,  and  chang'j 
to  cold  as  you  find  you  can  bear  it ;  commence  your  medicines  ii 
do.sos,  say  about  one  fifth  of  what  is  called  the  smallest  dose,  s» 
that,  under  no  circumstances,  shall  the  system  receive  any  shock 
by  any  changes  you  may  make,  cither   in  diet,  medicines,   sup 
porters,  shoulder  braces,  inhaling  tube,  bathing,  exercise,  or  ex 
posure.     Study  to  incorporate  all  your  changes  with  your  sys| 


CURE  OF  ASTHMA.  525 


tern,  so  as  to  do  no  violence  to  it.  Make  all  the  remedies  conge- 
nial to  you,  and  know,  for  your  pleasure,  consolation,  and  <  n- 
couragement,  that  if  you  become  decidedly  better,  by  faithfully 
continuing  and  pursuing  the  course  that  has  made  you  a  little 
better,  you  will  certainly  recover  your  health  in  a  longer  or 
shorter  period.  You,  like  other  invalids,  will  feel  the  changes 
of  weather,  and  have  your  poor  days.  But  do  not  despond.  Use 
your  remedies  faithfully,  and,  by  God's  blessing,  you  will  re- 
cover your  health. 

Recollect,  the  very  essence  of  my  teaching  is,  to  make  you 
your  own  doctors,  and  your  own  nurses. 

Be  faithful  to  yourselves,  and  success  will  crown  your  efforts. 
If  circumstances  or  season  of  the  year  allow,  as  soon  as  well 
able,  travel,  change  ihe  air  and  your  location.  If  in  a  ciiy  or 
town,  go  to  the  country  ;  visit  watering  places  ;  go  quire  away, 
for  a  time,  from  your  business,  or  usual  place  of  residence,  and 
stay  some  months,  if  possible. 


CASE  I.— Case  of  Thomas  Fengar. 

ASTHMA. 

I  have  mentioned  to  yon  that  asthma  was  one  of  the  diseases 
that  cured  pulmonary  consumption,  and  that  Nature  in  this  way 
saved  the  lives  of  thousands  who  would  have  otherwise  die  d  of 
consumption.  1  think  a  disposition  to  consumption  is  the  cause 
of  asthma  in  nearly  all  cases.  I  find  the  same  remedies,  wiih 
some  modifications,  that  cure  consumption  will  cure  astlmict  j  in 
other  words,  I  endeavor  to  cure  the  consumption  in  the  lungs,  or 
the  seeds  of  it,  and  the  necessity  of  asthma  ceases  and  it  disap- 
pears. In  January,  1^45,  I  spent  some  days  at  New  London, 
Conn.  ;  and  among  many  others  that  called  upon  me  was  a  man 
named  Thomas  Fengar.  lie  was  sexton  to  one  of  the  churches, 
and  had  a  large  family,  and  was  a  very  industrious,  worthy  citi- 
zen. For  eight  years  he  had  been  a  subject  of  asthma,  which 
had  at  last  entirely  broken  him  down,  and  prevented  his  doing 
any  work.  The  weather  was  exceedingly  inclement.  It  was 
with  great  difficulty  that  he  could  walk  across  the  street.  I  gave 


126  PROOFS  OF  THE 


him  his  remedies,  and  in  three  weeks  from  the  time  I  first  saw 
Liin  he  <jave  me  tne  following  letter: 

o  o 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Thomas  Fcngar  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"New  London,  Feb.  6th,  1845. 
"Dr.  S.  S.  FITCH— Dear  sir, 

"  As  a  slight  return  for  the  assistance  I  have  derived  from  your 
prescriptions,  inhaling  tube  and  medicines,  I  will  inform  you  that 
1  was  taken  with  that  distressing  disease,  the  asthma,  about  eight 
years  ago.  and  have  experienced  much  of  its  distressing  ravages 
upon  my  health.  For  two  months  before  I  saw  you  I  was  unable 
to  do  a  day's  work,  and  was  forced  to  sit  up.  For  twenty-one 
nights  I  was  unable  to  go  to  bed  at  all,  being  forced  to  sit  up  all 
night.  On  the  13th  of  January,  1845,  I  began  the  use  of  your 
remedies.  In  a  short  time  I  found  relief,  and  in  less  than  three 
weeks  was  able  to  return  to  my  work  and  do  a  full  day's  work  in 
the  open  air,  and  in  the  most  inclement  weather.  I  have  no  pain, 
very  little  shortness  of  breath,  and  can  lay  down  and  sleep  in 
the  soundest  manner.  If  I  can  always  have  as  good  health  as 
now  enjoy,  I  shall  feel  satisfied,  and  most  happy  and  gratefu 
Myself,  my  wife  and  children  join  me  in  thanks  for  the  assistance 
under  God,  derived  from  your  advice  and  medical  treatment. 
"  Respectfully  yours, 

"  THOMAS  FENGAR." 

CASE  II.— -Miss  Marlame  H.  Little. 

SPASMODIC    ASTHMA. 

At  Portland,  in  November,  1845,  I  was  consulted  by  Mis 
Mariame  H.  Little  for  a  terrible  asthma.  She  was  twenty  years  c 
age.  Her  father  has  been  a  respectable  merchant  of  Portland 
she  had  had  the  asthma  fifteen  years;  it  began  after  havin 
measles.  At  the  time  1  saw  her  she  was  a  great  sufferer,  unab 
to  do  any  thing  ;  had  to  sit  up  in  bed  nearly  the  whole  of  evei 
night,  and  dreadfully  oppressed  for  breath.  For  three  years  pa 
was  subject  to  dreadful  spasms  in  the  base  of  the  chest.  Alrno 
her  only  relief  was  to  take  sulphuric  ether,  in  great  quantitie 
by  inhaling  it.  In  this  way  she  had  u^d  a  pint  of  ether  in  twelv 


CURE  OF  ASTHMA.  127 

hours.  She  regularly  used  a  bottle  of  ether  each  week.  Her 
case  seemed  most  hopeless.  Her  shoulders  were  drawn  up, 
&c.  The  12th  of  November  I  gave  her  remedies  as  if  for  con- 
sumption, as  I  have  before  mentioned,  as  the  proper  mode  of 
treating  asthma.  In  three  weeks  she  was  much  better,  could  lay 
down  and  sleep  very  well  at  night,  and  do  a  good  deal  of  light 
work  about  the  house.  She  did  not  take  more  than  one-fourth  as 
much  ether  as  at  first.  I  subjoin  the  following  lettei^  by  which 
you  will  learn  she  is  now  in  pretty  good  health.  She  had  received 
the,  advice  of  thirteen  different  physicians. 

"  Pearl-street,  Portland,  Nov.  4th,  1846. 
u  DR.  FITCH — Dear  sir  : 

"  Your  letter  of  October  23d  was  duly  received,  and  it  gratifies 
me  much  to  inform  you  that  it  is  owing  to  your  invaluable  cough- 
expectorant  and  nervine  that  I  owe  my  present  state  of  health. 
When  I  first  applied  to  you,  in  November,  1845,  I  was  in  a  most 
distressed  state,  requiring  two  pounds  and  a  half  of  ether  in  a 
week,  and  the  constant  and  unremitting  care  of  my  friends  in  the 
night  season,  often  having  to  be  held  in  an  upright  position,  being 
too  much  exhausted  to  support  myself.  I  had  been  under  the 
care  of  thirteen  physicians,  and  had  nearly  given  up  all  hopes  of 
ever  enjoying  even  a  tolerable  degree  of  health,  when  you  came 
to  our  city.  Since  that  timo,  by  following  your  prescriptions,  and 
the  use  of  your  medicines,  I  have  been  gradually  recovering,  so 
much  so,  that  I  am  enabled  to  substitute  the  inhaling  of  the  smoke 
of  brown  paper,  soaked  in  a  solution  of  saltpetre,  instead  of  the 
ether,  thereby  saving  a  great  expense,  and  the  unpleasant  effluvia 
of  that  article.  I  have  not,  for  four  months,  had  any  ether.  My 
sleep  is  good,  and  I  can  assist  about  the  house  without  any  incon- 
venience ;  and  I  write  this  to  certify,  that  both  my  friends  and 
myself  have  the  utmost  confidence  in  your  superior  skill  and 

:iowledge  of  my  case.  "  Yours,  with  respect, 

"  MARIAME  H.  LITTLE." 


CASE  III.— Mrs.  Harriet  FernaU. 
In  December,  1845,    I    was  consulted  at  Portsmouth,   New 


J28  PROOFS  OF  THE 


Hampshire,  by  Mrs.  Harriet  Fernald.  Her  father  died  of  con- 
sumption :  she  was  about  thirty  years  of  age  ;  had  been  sickly 
some  time ;  twelve  months  ago  raised  blood,  succeeded  by  a 
cough,  and,  after  some  time,  by  attacks  of  asthma,  nights  and 
days.  Seven  weeks  before  I  saw  her,  she  had  an  attack  of 
pleurisy  on  the  left  side.  The  top  of  the  right  lung  had  tuber- 
cles in  it,  and  was  much  shrunk  up.  There  was  a  large  ulcer 
in  the  top  of  the  left  lung  ;  left  foot  was  cold.  The  asthma  had 
prevented  the  progress  of  the  consumption,  and  thus  saved  her 
life.  In  October,  1846,  I  received  the  following  letter  : 

"  Portsmouth,  Oct.  16th,  1846. 
"  DR.  FITCH,— Sir  : 

"  By  your  request,  1  answer  your  letter.  I  have  neglected 
writing  to  you,  as  I  understood  you  had  heard  of  my  health  by 
the  way  of  others  that  had  written.  I  gain  my  health  slowly  ; 
every  cold  I  took  I  would  have  an  attack  of  the  asthma,  until 
about  July;  since  which  I  have  had  no  asthmatic  affection  what- 
ever. Some  days,  when  the  wind  is  East  and  damp,  I  am  some 
troubled  with  shortness  of  breath.  But  my  complaints  have  en- 
tirely changed  since  the  third  night  on  commencing  your  reme- 
dies, which  I  commenced  December  last.  I  had  not  been  able 
to  lay  down  in  bed  for  several  montbs,  until  I  took  your  medi- 
cines. I  continue  to  wear  the  braces  and  supporter,  and  use  the 
tube  occasionally.  Since  the  asthma  has  left  me,  I  have  been 
troubled  with  the  catarrh  in  my  head,  very  bad  ;  my  nose  would 
discharge  clear  water  for  several  days  at  a  time,  and  then  leave 
me  for  a  few  days,  and  then  again  commence  ;  and  quite  a  cough 
attended  me,  which  seemed  to  be  no  farther  than  my  throat.  My 
lungs  seems  well  since  the  asthma  left.  1  took  the  most  of  the 
catarrh  snuff  you  sent  me ;  but  did  not  receive  much  benefit ; 
and  have  tried  two  other  kinds,  and  still  receive  no  cure:  but 
my  health,  at  present,  is  better  than  it  has  been  for  several 
months.  I  think  if  I  could  get  cured  of  the  catarrh,  I  should 
find  myself  well.  I  have  not  applied  to  any  physician,  excepting 
Dr.  Burnham,  for  snuff.  The  cold  bath  I  continue  across  my 
throat  and  chest.  But  I  thought  I  took  cold  by  bathing,  after 
leaving  my  warm  room,  and  did  not  bathe,  only  across  my  chest 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


and  throat,  but  seldom-     If  you  have  medicine,  or  can  advise  me 
what  course  1  can  pursue,  in  order  to  be  cured  )f  the  catarrh,  I 
should  be  highly  gratified  in   hearing  from  you. 
"  Respectfully  yours, 

"  IL  R.  FERNALD." 


CASE  IV.— -Dr.  D.  W.  Parker,  of  Boston,  Mass. 

In  November,  1843,  I  lectured  in  Manchester,  N.  II.  A  gen- 
tleman, who  heard  me  lecture,  called  on  me,  and  told  me  that  he 
had  a  brother  in  Boston  who  was  supposed  to  be  in  consumption ; 
that  he  had  been  out  of  health  for  one  or  two  years ;  and,  as  a 
last  resort,  his  physician  had  ordered  him  to  the  West  Indies,  to 
spend  the  winter,  saying,  Go  to  the  West  Indies,  or  die.  His 
brother  told  me  he  would  immediately  write  to  Boston,  and  if  the 
Dr.  had  not  embarked,  he  would  urge  him,  by  all  means,  to  see 
me,  at  least,  before  he  left  for  a  warm  climate.  I  should  say, 
that  Dr.  Parker  was  a  highly  respectable  dentist  of  Boston,  and 
a  very  well-educated,  gentlemanly  man.  Mis  brother  wrote  to 
him,  and  he  came  to  see  me  at  Andover,  Mass.,  on  the  3?);h  day 
of  November,  1845.  He  was  very  tall,  with  an  extremely  flat 
chest.  He  had  much  pain  in  his  chest  ;  had  a  great  deal  of 
cough,  and  was  one  of  the  most  emaciated  persons  I  ever  saw. 
His  face  looked  as  if  the  skin  had  been  removed,  and  the  bones 
scraped  of  all  flesh,  and  the  skin  put  back,  and  drawn  tightly 
over  the  bones.  His  hands  were  so  thin  and  devoid  of  blood,  as 
to  be  translucent.  I  gave  him  his  remedies,  directions,  &c.  He 
called  to  see  me  once  again,  at  Lowell,  in  about  two  weeks. 

'  Notwithstanding  an  inclement  winter,  in  something  short  of  six 
weeks,  I  heard  he  was  quite  well  ;  and  fearing  that  he  might 
omit  his  remedies,  I  wrote  him  a  letter,  advising  him  to  continue 
his  remedies,  and  asking  him  the  state  of  his  health,  and  received 
from  him  the  following  letter.  In  February  following,  I  called 
at  his  house,  and  scarcely  could  recognise  him,  so  much  had  he 
improved.  I  have  since  seen  him  repeatedly,  and  in  the  enjoy, 
ment  of  excellent  health.  He  has  regained  a  full  proportion  of 

!    flesh.     The  cure  was  perfect. 

I 


130  PROOFS  OF  THE 

Copy  of  a  kUer  from  Dr.  D.  W.  Parker  lo  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"Boston,  Jan.  16th,  1844. 
"  Dr.  FITCH — Dear  sir: 

"  Your  kind  letter  was  duly  received,  desiring  an  account  of  my 
physical  condition, — one.  of  the  most  dillicult  things  in  the  world  to 
perform.  A  sick  man  can  describe  his  case,  but  a  man  who  is 
well,  what  can  he  say,  except  that  he  is  so,  and  thank  God;  but 
turn  to  your  notes,  you  will  there  find  a  statement  of  facts  ;  reverse 
the  case,  and  you  have  the  facts  still,  for  none  of  the  facts  there 
set  down  now  exist. 

"  Still  I  might  say  many  things  more  :  I  might  say  that  had  I  no 
means  of  knowing  to  the  contrary,  1  positively  would  assert  a  weight 
of  forty  pounds  had  been  removed  from  the  top  of  my  chest;  that 
I  have  increased  in  size  considerably  in  that  region,  and  conse- 
quently my  coats  do  not  fit  me  ;  that  I  sometimes  think  of  quar- 
relling with  my  tailor  about  it,  but  always  recollect  that  Dr.  Fitch 
is  more  to  blame  than  the  tailor;  that  my  voice  has  changed 
wonderfully;  1  have  not  coughed  once  in  two  weeks;  all  this, 
with  many  other  indications,  that  this  body  of  mine  is  returning 
to  a  sound  and  healthy  state,  but  I  forbear  adding,  only  that  my 
friends  agree,  unanimously,  that  I  am  an  altered  individual.  1 
am  glad,  my  dear  sir,  that  you  have  decided  to  visit  Boston,  and 
shall  be  very  happy  if  1  can  in  any  way  be  of  service  to  you. 

"  Yours,  very  trulv, 

"D/W.  PARKER." 


CASE  II.— Miss  Hawley. 

In  December,  1342,  I  was  at  Vergennes,  in  the  state  of  Ver- 
mont. On  arriving  there  I  was  very  anxious  to  visit  a  gentleman 
1  once  knew,  who  resided  in  that  place,  and  who  was  a  very  re- 
spectable lawyer,  and  had  resided  in  my  father's  family  when  I 
was  a  boy.  Immediately  after  my  arrival,  Dr.  Bradford,  one  of 
the  first  physicians  of  that  town,  called  upon  me.  Dr.  Bradford 
had  been  a  room-mate  of  mine  some  months,  whilst  we  were  at- 


CURE  OP  CONSUMPTION.  131 

tending  the  Medical  College  in  Philadelphia.  I  immediately  in- 
quired  for  Mr.  Hawley.  He  told  me  Mr.  Hawley  had  died  of 
consumption  seven  years  before,  adding,  also,  that  his  daughter 
was  in  consumption  and  not  expected  to  live  but  a  short  time. 
Now,  said  he,  I  do  not  know  what  to  say  of  the  cure  of  consump- 
tion, but  1  do  not  believe  you*would  say  you  could  cure  it,  unless 
you  thought  you  could  ;  and,  if  you  please,  I  will  introduce  you  to 
Miss  Hawley,  and  if  you  can  cure  consumption,  you  can  have  a 
chance  to  do  so  in  her  case.  After  seeing  Miss  Hawley,  and  her 
family,  he  called  and  took  me  to  see  her.  I  can  hardly  describe 
the  agony  of  her  countenance,  as  she  said  to  me,  "  I  suppose  you 
have  come  to  tell  me  I  have  consumption."  On  examining  her 
chest,  I  found  her  very  much  emaciated,  and  ulcers  in  the  tops  of 
both  lungs.  She  had  a  bad  cough,  and  raised  blood  occasionally. 
She  raised  ulcerated  matter,  pus,  every  day.  The  day  I  was 
there,  she  raised  blood,  and  had  all  the  general  symptoms  of  con- 
sumption in  a  rather  aggravated  form.  This  was  the  only  time 
but  one  I  ever  saw  Miss  Hawley.  I  gave  her  her  remedies,  and 
also  written  directions  for  her  treatment,  medicines,  dec.,  and 
placed  them  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Bradford,  to  see  them  faithfully 
fulfilled  ;  and  this  I  did  with  all  my  patients  I  had  there.  I,  at 
the  same  time,  requested  them,  or  Dr.  Bradford,  to  write  to  me  in 
case  any  farther  assistance  was  required.  I  would  say,  that  Dr. 
Bradford  is  a  very  candid,  judicious,  and  excellent  physician.  I 
heard  nothing  more  of  my  patients  in  Vergcnnes  until  the  next 
August,  when  I  met  one  of  them  in  the  steamboat  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  and  this  was  the  senior  Captain  Sherman,  of  Vergennes. 
He  told  me  he  believed  all  my  patients  got  well,  and,  added  he, 
"  that  young  lady,  Miss  Ilawley,  for  whom  we  all  felt  so  much 
anxiety,  and  thought  would  not  live  one  month,  began  to  mend 
immediately  after  you  saw  her,  and  has  now  become  entirely 
well."  In  September.  1844,  something  over  twenty-one  months 
after  I  saw  Miss  Hawley,  I  wrote  to  her,  requesting  an  account 
of  her  health,  and  in  answer  received  the  following  letter.  Her 
case  was  one  of  true  hereditary  tubercular  consumption.  Her 
cure  was  perfect.  I  ought  to  say  she  was  about  nineteen  years 
of  age. 


132  PROOFS  OF  THE 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Miss  Haicley  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Filch. 

"  Vergennes,  Oct.  2d,  1844. 
"  DR.  FITCH, — 

"  Your  kind  letter  of  the  20th  I  have  just  received  ;  and  am  re« 
ioiced  to  assure  you,  in  answer  to  your  kind  inquiries,  that  I  am 
flow  eiijoying  a  very  comfortable  state  of  health.  You  are  aware 
that,  two  years  since,  at  the  time  you  were  at  Vergennes,  I  was 
fast  declining,  with  the  most  dangerous  and  alarming  symptoms  of 
consumption,  and  a  sure  prospect  of  speedy  dissolution.  1  raised 
blood  from  my  lungs  daily,  causing  me  great  pain,  with  an  un- 
natural appetite,  flush  upon  my  cheek,  a  general  losing  of  flesh  ; 
and  my  condition  such,  that  it  was  impossible  to  raise  a  blister 
upon  my  lungs.  I  followed  your  prescriptions  faithfully,  and 
commenced  blistering,  and  was  soon  able  to  obtain  relief  from 
this  source.  I  was  reduced  in  strength  by  this  treatment,  but  my 
lungs  grew  better.  I  am  now  quite  well,  and  am  able  to  be  about 
the  house ;  can  walk  and  ride  without  inconvenience.  In  fact, 
my  health  is  full  as  comfortable  as  it  has  been  for  the  last  ten 
years.  I  attribute  my  recovery  to  your  visit,  and  Dr.  Bradford's 
attention  afterwards.  Your  request  to  him  shall  be  complied 
with.  His  health  is  good.  Accept  the  thanks  of  my  mother 
and  brother,  and  believe  me,  that  I  shall  remember  you  with  the 
greatest  pleasure  and  gratitude. 

"  Miss  HAWLEY. 

"P.  S. — Allow  me  the  pleasure  of  informing  you  that  Mrs 
Scott  is  in  a  comfortable  state  of  health,  owing  to  your  kind  at 
tentions,  she  thinks." 

CASE  III.— Mrs.  Hannah  Gardner. 

January  31,  1844,  I  was  called  to  see  Mrs.  Hannah  Gardner, 
at  Salem,  Mass.  This  lady  had  lost  father,  mother,  one  brother, 
and  three  sisters,  of  consumption.  She  had  been  unwell  a  long 
time,  but  very  sick  for  six  weeks.  Her  physician  was,  and  is, 
one  of  the  most  estimable  physicians  I  ever  knew.  Mrs.  Gard- 
ner's case  seemed  most  hopeless :  exceedingly  emaciated  ;  night 
sweats  ;  cold  feet ;  constant  cough, — raised  a  pint  every  nigJit, 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  133 

by  coughing  ;  strength  utterly  prostrated.  It  was  a  case  of  ap- 
parently hopeless  hereditary  consumption.  In  October,  1&46,  I 
received  the  following  letter  from  her  husband  : 

"Salem,  Oct.  15th,  1846. 
"  Dear  Sir, — 

"  I  received  your  note,  and  it  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  I 
answer  it.  In  the  summer  of  1843,  my  wife's  health  was  very 
poor;  in  December  she  was  taken  sick  with  a  lung  and  pleurisy 
fever.  Her  Dr.  tended  her  five  or  six  weeks;  and  she  continued 
to  grow  worse.  1  called  on  the  Dr.  ;  and  he  gave  me  no  encou- 
ragement. He  told  the  neighbors  that  she  was  in  a  consumption, 
and  that  she  could  not  live  but  a  short  time.  My  brother  called 
n  me,  and  told  me  that  lie  heard  your  lecture  on  consumption  ; 
and  he  believed  that  you  could  help  her.  When  you  saw  her, 
you  gave  me  very  little  hope  ;  but  you  gave  me  some  medicine, 
and  directions  for  bathing  ;  which  were  attended  to  very  strictly, 
for  four  or  five  days  ;  and  she  began  to  grow  belter,  but  continued 
feeble  and  weak,  with  night  sweats,  and  very  bad  cough,  and 
raided  a  pint  in  the  nig  lit.  She  continued  to  take  your  medicine 
until  you  left  the  city  ;  and  her  healih  improved  very  much,  hi 
the  spring,  she  was  able  to  walk  out  in  the  yard,  a  mere  skele- 
ton. In  June,  she  went  into  the  country,  and  stayed  six  or  eight 
weeks ;  and  her  health  improved  very  fast.  Since  that,  her 
health  is  better  than  formerly.  She  is  able  to  do  the  most  of  her 
work.  She  is  more  fleshy  now  than  ever  ;  and  has  no  cough, 
except  when  she  takes  cold.  She  has  a  very  good  appetite  ;  and 
enjoys  life  well.  She  was  very  sorry  that  she  did  not  see  you 
when  you  was  at  Salem.  We  did  not  hear  of  your  sickness  till 
after  you  had  gone,  or  we  should  have  called  on  you.  If  you 
should  ever  visit  Salem  again,  we  should  be  happy  to  see  you. 

"  Yours,  truly, 

"  CHARLES  GARDNER." 


CASE  IV.— Mr.  A.  E.  Phillips. 

In  January,  1944,  at  Salem,  Mass.,  1  met  Mr.  A.  E.  Phillips. 
He  was  a  successful  dentist  of  that  town  ;  and   was  the  son  of 


134  PROOFS  OF  THE 

Stephen  Phillips,  Esq.,  of  Providence,  R.  I.  Mr.  Phillips  was  in 
very  declining  health.  He  had  a  bad  cough,  pain  in  the  chest, 
and  suffered  very  much  from  the  confinement  of  his  profession  ; 
and  was  preparing  to  visit  the  West  Indies,  for  his  health.  I 
gave  him  his  remedies,  with  careful  directions  for  forming  a  fine 
chest.  In  June,  1845,  I  met  Mr.  Phillips  in  Providence.  He 
had  not  changed  his  climate  ;  but  was  in  very  fine  health,  with 
as  fine  a  chest  as  I  almost  ever  saw.  His  letter  speaks  for  itself: 

"  Providence,  June  14th,  1845. 
"  DR.  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  sir, — It  is  with  pleasure  I  embrace  this  opportunity  of 
.informing  you  of  the  state  of  my  health;  which,  I  must  say, 
is  perfect. 

"  Doubtless  you  remember  I  visited  you,  at  Salem,  for  medical 
advice, — having  a  severe  cough,  and  pain  in  my  chest.  You  re- 
commended a  pair  of  braces  and  inhaling  tube;  both  which  I 
have  used  :  and  I  find  words  are  inadequate,  to  express  to  you 
the  benefits  which  I  hav§  derived,  in  using  them.  My  cough  and 
pain  have  left  me  ;  and  I  now  enjoy  that  health  which,  for  years, 
1  have  been  deprived  of. 

"  Wishing  to  impart  this  information  to  my  afflicted  and  skep- 
tical friends,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  forward  this,  which  you  can 
use  at  pleasure.  "  Respectfully,  your  ob't  ser't., 

"  A.  E.  PHILLIPS." 


CASE  V.—Rev.  L.  D.  Barrow. 

In  October,  1843,  I  lectured  at  Nashua,  N.  H.  Among  the 
persons  mentioned  to  me  in  that  town  in  consumption,  or  strongly 
inclined  .to  it,  was  that  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  L.  D.  Barrow,  a  Method- 
ist  clergyman,  resident  in  Nashua.  He  was  then  travelling  for 
his  health.  He  called  on  me  in  Concord,  N.  II.,  a  few  days 
after  I  left  Nashua.  He  was  a  tall,  thin,  emaciated  figure,  with 
a  very  slight  delicate  chest,  and  in  every  appearance  indicated 
the  presence  of  consumption.  On  examining  his  chest  I  found 
the  upper  part  of  both  his  lungs  were  considerably  tuberculated. 
He  stooped  very  much,  his  shoulders  were  drawn  very  much 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  135 

over  his  chest,  and  his  chest  was  very  much  contracted.  He 
had  considerable  cough,  pain  in  the  chest,  &c.  I  think  he  was 
able  to  preach  once  a  week.  It  was  with  difficulty  he  could 
write  for  half  an  hour  a  clay.  I  gave  him  his  remedies.  In  a  few 
weeks  after  I  met  him  at  Nashua.  He  told  me  he  was  happy  to 
say  he  felt  quite  well,  and  that  he  could  write  all  day  easier 
than  he  could  half  an  hour  before,  and  that  he  could  preach 

three  times  a  day In  November,  1844,  I  received 

the  following  letter.  There  is  one  circumstance  in  this  letter  tp 
which  I  wish  to  call  your  particular  attention,  where  he  men- 
tions that  he  received  great  benefit  from  the  remedies,  but  be- 
coming so  very  much  better,  he  left  ttiem  off,  or  omitted  their  use 
for  a  while,  until  he  became  worse.  Does  it  not  seem  extraordi- 
nary to  you,  that  any  man  or  woman,  who  had  been  walking  in 
sight  of  an  open  grave  (or  months,  because  struck  by  a  disease 
that  is  usually  thought  incurable,  on  finding  a  remedy  that 
every  day  makes  them  better,  should  leave  off  that  remedy 
before  their  health  is  perfectly  confirmed,  and  before  their  sys- 
tems are  entirely  rid  of  it?  The  patient  persevering  use  of 
remedies  is  often  required  for  three  or  four  years.  The  prize 
in  view  being  perfect  health,  with  daily  comfortable  health,  all 
the  time.  You  will  observe  the  remark  of  Mr.  Harrow,  that 
he  had  left  o(f  his  remedies  prematurely,  and  you  will  observe 
Uie  same  in  some  of  the  other  letters.  On  the  first  impression 
upon  the  lungs,  or  when  they  are  observed  to  be  improving,  no 
•effort  should  then  be  relaxed  until  they  are  perfectly  well.  When 
from  carelessness,  and  omitting  the  use  of  the  remedies,  a  relapse 
is  suffered,  the  recovery  is  much  retarded  and  sometimes  ren- 
dered doubtful,  the  cure  of  which  was  absolutely  certain  at  "first. 
Let  every  patient  remember,  that  if  he  becomes  positively  better, 
be  will  certainly  get  well  if  he  perseveres  in  the  use  of  his 
remedies,  and  he  should  continue  his  remedies  long  after  every 
vestige  of  disease  is  removed.  > 

Copy  of  a  Idler  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barrow  to  Dr.  8.  S.  Filch. 

"Nashville,  N.  H.,  Nov.  1st,  1844. 
"  Dr.  FITCH — Dear  sir  : 
"  It  is  but  just  that  I  should  acknowledge  the  benefit  derived 


136  PROOFS  OF  THE 


from  your  treatment.  For  nearly  one  year  previously  to  my  ap- 
plying to  you,  I  had  been  suffering  with  a  difficulty,  which  my 
medical  advisers  pronounced  the  '  Bronchial,'  attended  continu- 
ally \vun  a  slight  cough;  my  throat  and  tonsils  became  inflamed, 
and  the  latter  much  enlarged,  until  a  small  portion  of  one  of  them 
was  removed  by  excision ;  my  cough  continued  to  increase  until 
all  medical  gentlemen,  to  whom  I  applied,  pronounced  the  right 
lobe  of  my  lungs  diseased.  In  this  condition,  sir,  you  found  me  ; 
your  instructions,  together  with  the  good  effect  of  your  braces, 
soon  convinced  me  that  my  posture  in  writing  had  greatly  con- 
duced to  my  then  state  of  .health.  At  once  I  could  write  half  of 
the  day  with  more  ease,  with  the  braces,  than  one  hour  without 
them  ;  your  inhaling  tube  soon  relieved,  in  a  measure,  my  cough  ; 
arid  gave  a  heavier,  smoother,  and  easier  tone  to  my  voice;  my 
feeble  and  narrow  chest,  in  a  few  weeks,  was  enlarged  more  than 
one  inch. 

"  The  relief  which  I  realized  soon  induced  me  to  fall  into  care- 
lessness respecting  your  prescriptions  ;  and  though  my  lung  diffi- 
culties have  recently  revived  slightly,  it  is  the  result  of  my  own 
heedlessness,  and  I  am  applying  again  to  the  tube  and  braces,  as 
my  most  efficient  remedy.  1  can  but  think,  sir,  that  your  inform, 
ation  and  mode  of  treatment  is  fraught  with  great  good  to  the 
human  family,  and  especially  to  clergymen,  whose  habits  of  study 
and  exposure  of  lungs  need  to  be  guarded  and  directed  by  your 
most  important  instructions.  No  speaker,  even  in  health,  can  use 
your  tube  without  great  advantage;  it  will  give  a  compass  and 
music  to  the  voice,  and  learn  him  to  avoid  a  high,  short,  unpleas- 
ant and  destructive  tone  of  voice  ;  and  to  use  those  tones  which 
will  strengthen  the  lungs,  and  thus  make  speaking  itself  a  means 
of  prolonging  rather  than  shortening  life,  which  I  believe  to  be 
the  true  theory.  "  Most  respectfully  yours, 

"L.  D.  BARROW." 


CASE  VI. — Mrs.  Himtlnglon. 

In  June,  1844,  I  was  consulted  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  by  Mrs. 
Iluntington,  whom  1  visited  at  her  house.  I  mention  her  case  in 
order,  as  well  as  for  the  interest  of  the  case,  to  introduce  another 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  137 


in  contrast  to  it.  At  that  time  1  was  consulted  by  Mrs.  Hunting- 
ton,  who  had  very  had  lungs,  and  was  far  advanced  in  pregnancy  ; 
I  gave  her  her  remedies.  1  would  remark,  that  no  period  is  more 
favorable  to  healing  bad  lungs  in  a  female,  and  1  have  before 
mentioned,  how  rapidly  consumption  proceeds  in  a  lady  after  she 
has  given  birth  to  a  child.  If  any  lady  is  consumptive,  every 
possible  means  should  be  taken  to  prevent  a  lapse  of  lung  disease, 
and  increase  of  it  after  her  child  is  born.  The  letter  of  Mrs. 
Iluntington  speaks  for  itself.  The  other  case  was  the  following: 
I  think  the  same  week  I  was  consulted  by  Mrs  Huntington,  a 
clergyman,  who  resided  in  a  small  town  on  the  east  side  uf  the 
Connecticut  river,  beyond  East  Hartford,  whose  wife  was  some- 
what consumptive  and  in  the  family  way,  about  as  far  advanced 
as  Mrs.  Huntington,  having  heard  of  rny  lectures  at  Hartford, 
came  over  to  that  town  and  called  to  ask  about  me  of  a  gentle- 
man whose  brother-in-law  had  been  cured  of  consumption.  This 
gentleman  and  the  clergyman  weie  of  the  same  religious  persua- 
sion. After  the  gentleman  had  recounted  the  case  of  the  cure  to 
the  clergyman,  and  explained  to  him,  as  far  as  he  knew,  the 
mode  of  treatment  and  its  striking  success,  he  told  the  clergyman 
that  if  he  would  walk  over  to  the  hotel,  the  person  who  had  been 
cured  of  consumption  would  give  every  explanation  required  ; 
but  so  skeptical  was  the  clergyman,  that  he  said  he  did  not  believe 
consumption  could  ever  be  cured,  and  omitted  paying  any  farther 
attention  to  the  subject,  as  far  as  1  was  concerned.  In  August  I 
saw  the  lady  arid  her  husband,  the  clergyman,  at  AVeathersfield, 
Conn.  Her  infant  was  then  four  weeks  old,  but  1  found  the 
mother  in  rapidly  advancing  consumption.  As  1  could  give  no 
positive  assurance  of  recovery,  no  serious  effort  was  employed 
for  her  relief.  I  only  gave  her  a  litlle  cough  medicine.  She  died 
in  about  three  weeks,  i  think,  after  1  saw  her.  Mrs.  Huntington 
is  now,  (September,  1846,)  in  very  good  health. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  R.  G.  H.  Huntington,  to  Dr.  S.  8.  Fitch 

"Hartford,  Dec.  14,  1*44. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH— My  dear  sir : 

"  Knowing  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  hear  of  the  apparent 
benefit  my  wife  has  derived  from  the  use  of  your  inhaling  tub*, 


PROOFS  OF  THE 


cough  mixture,  liniment,  &c.,  I  would  state  that  she  having 
been,  fur  the  last  four  years,  in  a  feeble  state  of  health,  suffering 
from  a  combination  of  complaints,  so  much  so,  that  at  times  she 
has  been  confined  to  her  room  for  months,  and  not  unfrequently 
to  her  bed,  and  many  remedies  having  been  tried  with  no  perma- 
nent benefit,  we  were  induced  some  time  about  the  last  of  May 
last,  to  apply  to  you,  and  she  commenced  the  application  of  the 
above  named  remedies.  At  this  time,  (six  months  later,)  I  am 
happy  to  say  that  she  is  quite  free  from  cough,  and  her  general 
health  much  improved.  Her  lungs  are  yet  weak  and  easily 
overdone  ;  but  I  am  greatly  encouraged  to  believe  that,  with  a 
faithful  use  of  the  tube,  &c.,  under  God,  she  will  yet  enjoy  her 
usual  health.  And  I  would  most  cheerfully  recommend  the  use 
of  the  inhaling  tube  to  those  afflicted  with  lung  affections. 
"Very  respectfully  yours, 

«*R.  G.  H.  HUNTING-TON." 


CASE  VII.— Mrs.  Hurlburt. 

At  Weathersfield,  in  August,  1844,  I  was  requested  to  see  & 
Mrs.  Hurlburt,  who  resided  in  the  west  part  of  Weathersfield, 
about  two  miles  west  from  the  meeting-house.  Her  physician 
was  Dr.  Robison,  of  Weathersfield.  She  was  represented  to  me 
as  being  in  quite  an  advanced  stage  of  consumption.  An  emi- 
nent medical  gentleman  from  Hartford,  had  the  week  previously 
visited  Mrs.  Hurlburt,  in  consultation  with  Dr.  Robison.  I  ac- 
companied Dr.  Robison  to  her.  I  found  her  in  what  is  called 
quick  consumption — that  is,  her  lungs  were  affected  pretty  much 
all  over  them,  and  large  quantities  of  pus  were  poured  out  daily 
from  the  internal  skin  of  the  lungs,  with  ulceration  in  the  top 
of  the  right  lung.  She  had  a  bad  cough,  daily  fever,  profuse 
expectoration,  raising  more  than  a  quart  a  day,  night  sweats, 
great  prostration  of  strength,  and  cold  extremities.  In  fact,  her 
immediate  friends  did  not  suppose  she  could  live  one  week.  I 
believe  Dr.  Robison  and  myself  concurred  in  the  opinion,  that 
unless  speedily  relieved,  she  would  soon  die.  I  gave  her  reme 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  139 


dies,  such  as  the  cass  seemed  to  require.  Her  relief  was  very 
prompt.  I  saw  her  several  times.  In  three  weeks  she  was  able 
to  come  down  to  the  gate  and  converse  with  me.  In  a  few 
weeks  she  was  perfectly  recovered.  Her  husband  is  a  respecta- 
ble farmer.  Her  recovery  is  still  spoken  of  in  that  region  as 
little  less  than  a  miracle. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  James  Hurlljurt  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Filch. 

«  Weathersfield,  Dec.  15th,  1844. 
"DR.  S.  S.  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  sir, — In  reply  to  your  inquiries,  I  will  tell  you  that  my 
wife  was  in  poor  health,  all  last  spring  and  summer,  with  some 
cough.  The  fore  part  of  July,  her  cough  became  alarming,  wiih 
fever,  and  every  symptom  of  consumption.  Two  eminent  physi- 
cians attended  her  ;  but  no  medicine  seemed  to  help  her,-  us  she 
sunk  very  rapidly,  until  both  physicians  quite  despaired  of  her 
recovery,  considering  her  in  a  rapid  consumption.  Few  persons 
considered  that  she  could  live  two  weeks:  some  thought  she 
might  not  live  one  week.  Such  was  her  situation,  when  you 
were  called  to  see  her.  In  twenty-four  hours  after  your  first  visit, 
my  wife  began  to  improve  :  in  two  weeks,  she  was  about  her 
house.  By  a  faithful  use  of  all  your  remedies,  see  has  perfectly 
recovered.  She  imputes  her  recovery  to  your  timely  aid.  She, 
and  all  her  family,  as  well  as  myself,  send  you  our  best  thanks 
and  highest  regards.  We  cannot  cease  to  recommend  your  prac- 
tice to  all  in  consumption. 

"  JAMES  HURLBURT." 


CASE  VI1L— Mr.  W.  R.  Ames. 


In  August,  1843,  I  was  consulted  at  St.  Albans,  in  Vermont, 
by  a  gentleman,  who  was  a  watch-maker  of  that  town,  and  in 
very  bad  health.  His  figure  was  very  stooping.  He  had  a  bad 
cough, — raised  a  good  deal ;  and,  in  fact,  was  in  consumption.  I 
gave  him  his  remedies,  directions,  &c.  Six  weeks  afterwards,  I 
received  from  him  the  following  letter.  At  this  time,  September, 
1846,  he  resides  at  Malone,  N.  Y.,  and  enjoys  good  health. 


HO PROOFS  OF  THE 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  W.  E.  Ames  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Filch. 

"  St.  Albans,  Sept.  16th,  1843. 
"DR.  FITCH: 

"Sir, — Jt  is  with  feelings  of  gratitude,  I  assure  you,  that  I 
withdraw  a  moment  from  my  business,  to  address  you.  1  have 
neglected  to  do  so  for  some  time,  on  account  of  my  business  calling 
me  from  home.  But,  without  further  preface,  1  hasten  to  inform 
you  that  my  health  has  very  much  improved  since  you  were  in 
St.  A 1  bans.  The  pain  in  my  side  has  left  me  entirely;  and,  al- 
though the  pain  in  my  chest  and  lungs  is  not  entirely  removed, 
yet  it  is  very  slight,  compared  to  what  it  was  when  you  were 
here.  My  appetite  is  good,  which  has  not  been  the  case,  for  any 
length  of  time,  within  two  years. 

4k  1  commenced  using  your  remedies  soon  after  you  left  here  ; 
and  have  continued  to  use  them  nearly  up  to  the  present  time, 
[n  eight  days  from  the  time  I  commenced  using  your  breathing- 
tube,  1  gained  (by  measurement)  two  inches  around  the  chest  ;  I 
began  to  walk  erect,  instead  of  stooping;  my  appetite  began  to 
grow  better  ;  and  my  health  has  gradually  improved  ever  since. 
The  change  in  my  appearance  is  noticed  by  all  around  me  :  and 
I  have  been  asked  how  it  was,  that  I,  who  had  been  so  long  an 
invalid,  could  have  so  soon  regained  my  former  activity  and 
cheerfulness,  I  made  one  sad  mistake,  in  using  the  tube,  when 
I  first  commenced  ;  that  is,  the  first  week,  in  using  it  too  freely. 
You  will  recollect,  when  you  were  here,  I  was  very  thin  and 
poor.  Well,  not  knowing  the  power  of  the  instrument,  1,  as  1 
said,  used  it  too  freely,  and  came  near  pushing  my  ribs  through 
the  skin  :  at  any  rate,  it  made  them  very  sore ;  and  they  are 
some  so  yet,  though  not  so  bad  as  they  were.  I  have  used  up 
your  prescription,  and  am  much  better  ;  but  yet  I  am  not  well. 
My  chest  is  yet  very  weak ;  and  my  lungs,  also.  I  use  the  tube 
yet  ;  but,  perhaps,  1  need  something  else.  You  can  better  judge 
of  that  than  I.  1  am  very  thankful  I  have  received  so  much  be- 
nt fit  ;  but,  still,  I  hope  to  receive  more.  1  should  be  pleased  to 
have  you  write  me,  and  give  me  such  advice  as  you  think  best. 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  141 

My  feelings,  in  kind,  are  nearly  the  same  as  when  you   were 
here  ;  but,  in  degree,  they  are  not  to  be  compared. 
"  Yours,  with  respect, 

"  VV.  R.  AWES  " 


CASE  IX.— Mr.  Mahlon  SchencL 

There  is  no  class  of  persons  whom  I  am  more  disposed  to  re- 
lieve than  the  honest  hard-working  man,  of  whom  I  have  relieved 
multitudes.  They  generally  bear  disease  better,  and  are  cured 
easier,  than  the  effeminate  and  luxurious.  The  following  letter 
is  from  one  of  these.  lie  had  been  told  that  he  could  never  re- 
cover: had  lost  a  great  deal  of  blood  from  his  lungs.  He  re- 
covered in  a  few  weeks. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Mahlon  Schenck  to  Dr.  S.   S.  Fitch. 

"  Dec.  9th,  1844. 
"DR.  FITCH: 

"  I  now  take  up  my  pen,  to  let  you  know  how  I  am  getting 
along,  as  I  promised  to  do.  When  I  came  to  see  you,  I  was 
about  to  give  up  my  work  for  ever :  but  now,  with  the  help  of  the 
Lord,  I  am  able  to  do  a  good  day's  work,  which  I  could  not  have 
done.  If  I  had  not  taken  your  medicine,  I  do  think  I  should 
have  been  on  the  bed  of  death  now.  I  cough  some  yet.  My 
wife  is  better  than  she  has  been  for  three  years  ;  and  returns 
thanks  to  you  for  your  services.  I  hope  that  the  choicest  of 
Heaven's  blessings  may  attend  you,  wherever  you  go. 

"  MAULON  SCHENCK. 

"  Bridgeport,  Ct." 


CASE  X. — Miss  Susan  A.  Sears. 

In  October,  1844,  I  was  consulted  at  New- Haven,  Ct.,  by  a 
young  lady,  who  was  one  of  those  wretched  invalids  who  may  be 
said  to  be  almost  universally  disordered  ;  lungs,  stomach,  bowels, 
badly  affected.  She  had  no  hope  whatever  of  recovery.  It  was 


142  PROOFS  OP  THE 


two  or  three  weeks  before  she  began  to  change  mucli  for  the  bet- 
ter. She  desponded  very  greatly.  It  was  difficult  to  raise  even 
a  gleam  of  hope.  However,  a  consciousness  of  returning  health 
before  long  began  to  diffuse  itself  through  her  system.  In  Oc- 
tober, 1845,  I  received  the  following  letter  from  her.  I  should 
say,  that  when  she  began  her  remedies,  she  was  emaciated  to  a 
mere  skeleton. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Miss  Susan  A.  Sears  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Filch. 

"New-Haven,  Oct.  8th,  1845. 
'•'DR.  S.  S.  FITCH: 

"  Dear  sir. — It  is  now  about  one  year  since  I  commenced  your 
remedies,  being  then  afflicted  with  a  severe  cough,  expectoration, 
pain  in  my  side,  dyspepsia,  disorder  of  the  bowels,  and  general 
debility.  I  had  applied  to  a  number  of  physicians,  who  had  all 
pronounced  me  consumptive,  and  in  all  probability  should  never 
recover.  But  when  you  came  to  this  city,  by  the  advice  of  my 
friends,  I  called  to  see  you,  with  little  or  no  expectation  of  being 
benefitted  by  medicine,  as  it  had  heretofore  proved  nearly  or  quite 
useless.  But  I  am  happy  to  say,  that  by  following  your  pre- 
scriptions, I  have,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  so  far  recovered  my 
health,  as  to  attend  to  the  common  avocations  of  life,  and  to  the 
enjoyment  of  society  and  friends  :  a  blessing  which  a  debilitated 
state  of  health  lias  deprived  me  of  for  about  five  years. 
"  Yours,  with  respect, 

"  SUSAN  A.  SEARS." 


CASE  XI. 
Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  George  H.  Moore  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"Providence,  April  1,  1845. 
"  Respected  sir, — 

"  According  to  request,  I  have  prepared  the  following  brief 
statement  of  my  case.  At  the  time  I  called  upon  you,  I  had 
a  very  bad  cough,  coughing  severely  in  the  morning,  and  seve- 
ral limes  a  day,  or  upon  any  slight  exertion,  such  as  drawing 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  113 

a  pail  of  water,  &c.  ;  raising  a  considerable,  sometimes  streak, 
ed  with  blood  ;  a  constant  wheezing  in  my  throat ;  at  times,  great 
difficulty  in  breathing,  not  able  to  take  a  long  breath  ;  consi- 
derable soreness  in  the  chest,  particularly  on  the  left  side  ;  little 
appetite  ;  very  poor  in  flesh,  very  weak,  and  not  able  to  do  much 
work,  nor  take  much  exercise.  This  had  been  the  state  of  my 
health  over  two  years  previous  to  calling  upon  you. 

"It  is  now  thirty-three  days  since  I  commenced  treatment  with 
you,  and  my  cough  does  not  trouble  me  any  ;  I  raise  but  little,  and 
that  easily  ;  seldom  troubled  with  the  wheezing;  no  difficulty  in 
breathing  ;  no  soreness  in  the  chest ;  good  appetite  :  very  much 
improved  in  appearance,  strength  and  flesh,  and  am  able  to  at- 
tend to  my  business  constantly,  and  take  any  usual  exercise  with- 
out inconvenience. 

"  Returning  sincere  thanks  for  your  attention,  I  remain,  most 
respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  GEO.  II.  MOORE." 


CASE  XII.— 717/55  Jane  Tyler. 

In  October,  1844,  I  was  consulted  at  New- Haven  by  a  young 
lady,  the  subject  of  tbis  case,  aged  about  seventeen  years,  who 
had  been  out  of  health  for  a  number  of  months,  having  constant 
daily  fever,  very  quick  pulse,  pain  about  the  chest,  pain  in  her 
side,  and  almost  constant  cough,  or  at  least  a  constant  liability  to 
it.  She  could  not  move  or  walk,  or  be  the  least  excited  without 
producing  cough.  The  least  change  in  the  air  would  excite  a 
fit  of  coughing,  such  as  leaving  the  parlor  and  crossing  the  entry. 
At  night  she  was  very  apt  to  have  cough,  nor  could  she  go  out  in 
the  evening  to  attend  any  public  assemblage,  or  any  private  party. 
Her  friends  were  very  much  alarmed  for  her  safety.  She  had 
taken  much  medical  advice  and  medicine,  without  relief.  I  gave 
her  her  remedies;  under  their  influence,  her  health  rapidly  im- 
proved ;  the  cough  and  fever  left  her,  and  her  whole  system 
passed  into  a  state  of  health.  She  was  soon  able  to  go  out  in  the 
evening  as  much  as  she  pleased,  and  to  breathe  the  pure  cold  air, 
not  only  with  impunity,  but  with  great  advantage.  I  saw  this 
young  lady  in  October,  1845.  She  was  in  charming  health. 


114  PROOFS  OF  THE 


Copy  of  a  le Her  from  Miss  Jane  Tyler  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  New-Haven,  June  24th,  1845. 
«DR.  S.  S.  FITCH— Sir: 

"  [  received  your  kind  letter  on  the  23d,  inquiring  after  my 
health.  After  yo'i  left  here  I  was  taken  with  an  influenza,  arid 
my  cough  seemed  to  return,  which  lasted  about  two  weeks  ;  since 
then  I  have  been  improving.  My  cough  seems  to  have  left  me  ; 
also  the  pain  in  my  side.  I  continued  to  take  your  medicine 
and  follow  your  direction,  which  I  think  has  been  of  great  benefit 
to  me.  I  feel  very  grateful  that  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Dr. 
Fitch.  "  Respectfully  yours, 

"  JANE  TYLER." 

CASE  XIII.— Mrs.  Mary  W.  Whillier. 

At  Portland,  in  the  State  of  Maine,  in  November,  1845,  I  was 
consulted  by  this  lady.      She  was  a  very  accomplished  young 
married  woman.     Her  husband  a  respectable  merchant  of  Port- 
land.     She  was  brought  up  in  delicacy  and  refinement,  and  had 
lost  all  of  her  blood  relations,  or  nearly  every  one,  by  consump- 
tion.    The  last  left  was  a  cousin,  a  young  gentleman,  who  died 
whilst  I  was  in  Portland.     Mrs.  Whittier  now  awaited  her  tur 
to  meet  the  grasp  of  the  spoiler.     She  had  much  pain  in  he 
chest,  and  cough,  unable  to  go  out  much,  and  dreaded  the  cold. 
After  seeing  me,  and  I  had  obtained  a  fair  share  of  her  confidence, 
and  she  had  taken  her  remedies,  she  met  with  a  stranger  who 
assured  her  in  the  most  solemn  manner  that  she  would  certainl 
be  killed   by  the  use  of  the  remedies.     She  at  once  called  up- 
me,  and  I  had  the  means  at  hand  to  perfectly  re-assure  her  coi 
fidence.      Her    recovery    was   rapid    and   satisfactory.     Befon 
leaving  Portland,   Mr.  Whittier  gave  me  a  letter.     1  saw  Mrs, 
Whittier  several  times  during  the  winter,  in   the  enjoyment  oJ 
pleasant  health,  and  as  happy  a  mortal  as  one  would  desire 
see. 

1  have  often  been  astonished  at  the  utter  want  of  feeling  dii 
played  by  some  persons  in  dissuading  consumptives  from  the 
of  remedies  for  their  relief,  and  especially  where  this  cou 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  145 

remedies  has  cured  others.  If  they  do  not  take  the  remedies  they 
must  die,  and  if  they  do  employ  them,  they  can  only  die,  and  may 
get  well  by  the  change  of  treatment.  Yet  there  are  plenty  of 
people  who  will  dissuade  the  consumptive  before  he  has  procured 
his  remedies,  and  discourage  him  after  he  has  done  so ;  and  to 
break  down  his  confidence  and  destroy  his  hopes,  will  retail  to 
him  the  most  absurd  falsehoods. 

"  Portland,  Nov.  30,  1845. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH— Dear  sir : 

"  I  am  happy  to  improve  this  opportunity  of  expressing  to  you 
my  perfect  satisfaction  with  the  course  you  have  pursued  in  the 
case  of  my  wife.  The  beneficial  effects  of  your  remedies  have 
far  exceeded  our  most  sanguine  expectations.  Three  weeks 
since,  before  she  consulted  you,  I  felt  that  the  disease,  which  had 
carried  five  of  her  nearest  relations  to  an  early  grave,  had 
marked  her  for  a  sure  victim.  Since  using  the  remedies  pre- 
scribed by  you,  there  has  been  almost  an  entire  change  in  her 
health,  for  the  better,  as  it  regards  breathing  the  cold  air,  appe- 
tite, strength,  &c.  I  have  the  fullest  confidence,  that,  by  strict 
attention  to  your  rules,  she  will  eventually  regain  her  health. 

"My  wife  joins  with  me,  in  cordial  wishes  for  your  future 
happiness  and  prosperity. 

"  I  remain,  my  dear  sir,  with  much  gratitude, 

"  Yours,  very  respectfully, 

"  SM'L.  T.  WHITTIER." 


"  Portland,  March  30,  '46. 
"  DOCT.  S.  S.  FITCH — My  dear  sir : 

"  I  was  made  very  anxious  a  few  weeks  since,  as  it  was  told 
me  you  were  dangerously  ill.  I  could  not  feel  reconciled  to  the 
thought  of  your  being  taken  from  your  friends  now,  although 
I  know  our  Heavenly  Father,  who  cannot  err,  would  do  all  things 
right.  I  was  then  about  writing  to  you,  but  supposing  you  was 
not  able  to  attend  to  your  patients,  wrote  to  Mr.  Thompson  for 
some  medicines  I  wanted,  and  also  for  Mrs.  E.  He  has  informed 
me  that  you  are  better,  and  I  cannot  express  to  you  how 
very  happy  I  am  to  know  that  you  are  now  quite  well.  I  am 

r 


146  PROOFS  OF  THE 

very  well  except  a  bad  cold,  which  has  given  me  a  troublesome, 
hard  cough  for  four  or  five  weeks.  I  think  it  better  for  a  few 
days  past.  My  general  health  is  very  much  improved.  The 
pain  in  my  chest  is  not  so  severe,  or  of  so  long  continuance,  when 
I  have  an  attack.  I  have  not  been  troubled  much  with  canker 
since  I  saw  you.  I  feel  I  cannot  be  sufficiently  grateful  for  the 
good  health  I  enjoy.  I  feel  as  if  your  life  must  be  prolonged,  to 
be  a  blessing  to  others  as  well  as  myself.  The  expectorant  and 
powders  for  a  cough  do  not  relieve  me  much.  The  liniment  is 
the  best  I  ever  had.  I  should  like  another  phial  of  it.  Mr. 
Staples  mentioned  a  cough  balsam  you  gave  him,  that  was  very 
good ;  I  should  like  to  try  the  effect  of  it,  if  you  think  best.  Mr. 
S,  was  very  feeble  when  I  saw  him  —  have  not  heard  of  his 
death.  He  was  very  grateful  for  the  relief  your  remedies 
afforded  him.  Miss  Merill  died  last  week.  Mrs.  E.  has  been 
better  this  winter  than  for  three  that  are  past.  She  said  when  I 
saw  her,  that  she  only  saw  you  once,  and  did  not  receive  as 
much  medicine  as  you  intended  she  should  have.  She  has 
never  taken  any  that  relieved  her  so  much.  She  would  like 
some  more  of  the  same.  If  you  send  me  some,  you  may  put 
hers  in  the  same  package,  and  direct  to  S.  Whittier.  I  hope  1 
shall  not  weary  you  with  my  long  letter.  Shall  we  not  be  made 
glad  by  seeing  you  next  summer,  if  we  live.  You  have  many 
friends  here.  Please  send  me  one  word  or  line,  and  tell  me  how 
you  do,  if  you  are  able  to. 

"  In  haste,  yours,  with  the  kindest  regard, 

"  MARY  W.  WHITTIER." 


CASE  XIV.— Master  George  W.  Roberts. 

In  January,  1846,  I  was  at  Newburyport,  in  Mass.,  and  was 
requested  to  see  a  young  lad,  who  was  about  fifteen  years  old, 
an  only  child.  He  had  been  sick  for  upwards  of  three  years, 
and  at  this  time  did  not  go  out  at  all  —  could  set  up  only  a  part 
of  every  day.  The  top  of  his  right  lung  ulcerated.  He  raised 
a  great  deal,  and  had  a  most  harrassing  cough,  and  although  the 
weather  was  very  cold,  yet  he  was  obliged  to  sit  up  two-thirds 
of  every  night.  His  case  seemed  to  invite  but  little  hope,  as  he 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  147 


shad  been  so  long  ill,  and  his  system  was  so  prostrated.  But  his 
iconfidence  was  boundless.  He  used  his  remedies  faithfully.  I 
ineed  not  say  that  no  person  expected  he  could  recover.  His 
physicians  had  left  him  entirely,  considering  his  case  hopeless. 
Within  three  weeks  I  had  so  far  calmed  his  disease  as  to  allow 
him  full  sleep  at  night,  and  to  be  more  or  less  out  of  doors  in  the 
day  time.  In  March  I  received  the  following  letter.  I  believa 
at  this  time,  September,  1846,  he  is  in  fair  health. 

"  Newburyport,  March  1st,  1846. 

;  DR.  FITCH  : 
«  Sir, — I  take  pleasure  in  communicating  through  you  to  ua 

fflicted  public,  the  astonishing  effect  your  medicine  has  had  upon 
me.  I  have  not  enjoyed  perfect  health  for  the  last  three  years. 
Much  of  the  time  I  have  been  reduced  very  low,  so  as  to  be  given 
up  by  my  physicians.  They  thought  my  liver  was  so  consumed 
hat  it  was  beyond  the  power  of  medicine  to  cure  me.  Some  re- 
used to  give  medicine,  saying  it  would  have  no  effect  ;  that  I 
jould  not  live  but  a  short  time  at  the  longest,  and  perhaps  might 
ive  a  little  longer  without  .taking  any  medicine,  excepting  a  rest- 
ng  powder.  So  I  left  off  taking  any  other  medicine  (or  all  other 
medicines),  and  I  think  I  felt  a  little  better  (for  my  medicines  ge- 
aerally  made  me  feel  very  bad.)  I  was  so  that  I  was  able  to  go 
out.  I  went  out  and  took  a  slight  cold  ;  was  taken  down  to  my 
>ed  again.  My  cough  increased,  my  appetite  failed  me.  For 
many  months  I  was  obliged  to  be  bolstered  up  in  my  bed.  I 
could  not  lie  down  in  bed  on  account  of  my  cough  ;  if  I  did,  it  was 
ittended  with  severe  coughing  spells.  I  raised  a  good  deal, — 
was  troubled  with  night  sweats.  I  had  given  up  all  hopes  of 
)eing  any  better — supposed  I  very  soon  must  die.  I  was  in  this 
situation  when  I  heard  of  your  arrival  in  this  place.  I  had  heard 
of  the  astonishing  cures  you  had  performed,  and  felt  anxious  to 
see  you  ;  and,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  I  am  happy  to  say  I  owe 
my  life  to  you,  and  tho  health  I  enjoy.  I  applied  all  of  your  re- 
tnedies  according  to  directions,  and  felt  greatly  relieved  in  a  short 
time.  My  night  sweats  disappeared,  my  cough  grew  better,  my 
appetite  increased,  my  strength  was  greatly  increased.  I  con- 
tinue the  remedies.  I  now  can  lie  down  in  bed,  and  sleep  all 


143  PROOFS  OF  THE 

night ;  am  able  to  go  out,  and  take  several  walks  during  the  day. 
I  have  faith  to  believe  that  your  medicines  will  entirely  cure  me. 
All  of  your  medicine  has  had  an  astonishing  effect  upon  all  that 
have  been  taking  it  in  this  place.  Your  patients,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  learn,  are  doing  extremely  well.  We  all  feel  very 
anxious  to  have  you  visit  this  place  again.  I  feel  very  anxious 
t(  hear  from  you.  Please  write  when  you  think  of  visiting  this 
place  again.  If  you  do  not  think  of  visiting  this  place,  you  must 
write  without  fail. 

"  I  remain  your  obliged  friend, 

"  GEORGE  W.  ROBERTS." 


CASE  XV.— Miss  Brown. 

"  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  April,  1845. 
"  DR.  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  Sir, — You  have  been  the  means  of  restoring  my 
daughter's  health  (by  your  braces,  supporter,  and  medicine),  in 
a  great  measure,  and  I  think  will  entirely  cure  her,  if  she  follows 
your  advice.  She  has  taken  a  grea.t  deal  of  medicine  from  a 
number  of  different  physicians,  and  received  no  benefit  till  she 
commenced  yours.  It  is  with  heartfelt  gratitude  that  I  return 
thanks  to  you,  that  you  have  been  permitted  to  visit  this  place, 
and  have  been  the  means,  through  Divine  Providence,  of  doing 
so  much  good  to  the  afflicted.  Oh  !  how  nearly  may  you  imi- 
tate the  example  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  given  you  '  to 
heal  the  sick,'  and  how  truly  may  you  with  healing  mercies 
'go  about  doing  good.'  Like  Luke,  'the  beloved  physician,' 
you  may  both  live  and  write  for  God.  May  success  crown  your 
every  effort,  and  oh  !  may  your  life  yet  be  prolonged  in  prospe- 
rity and  happiness,  until  you  abate  the  deadly  foe,  consumption, 
that  sweeps  our  land  annually  of  its  thousands. 
"  Yours,  respectfully, 

"  ANNA  BROWN." 

CASE  XVI.— Rev.  William  Livesey. 
In  February,  1845,  I  was  consulted  at  Providence,  R.  L, 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 149 

the  subject  of  the  following  case,  a  highly  esteemed  and  valuable 
clergyman  of  the  Methodist  persuasion,  English  by  birth,  and  re- 
siding at  Warren,  R.  I.  On  inquiring  into  his  case,  I  found  that 
he  had  not  been  able  to  preach  1  believe  for  three  years,  and  vvas 
the  subject  of  pulmonary  consumption.  He  had  an  enormous 
ulcer  in  the  upper  part  of  the  middle  portion  of  the  right  lung  ; 
the  top  of  the  left  lung  was  also  diseased.  I  told  him  the  exact 
situation  of  his  lungs,  and  that  considerable  doubt  of  his  recovery 
existed  in  my  mind,  but,  if  he  chose,  he  might  employ  the  reme- 
dies, and  we  would  leave  the  result  to  God.  At  the  end  of  four 
or  five  weeks  his  health  began  to  improve.  I  saw  him  in  Julv, 
'45,  at  Fall  River.  He  told  me  he  considered  himself  well.  He 
was  in  the  full  discharge  of  his  clerical  duties,  and  had  preached 
as  many  as  three  times  a  Sunday.  Knowing,  as  I  did,  how  very 
delicate  a  recently  healed  lung  is,  and  how  readily  inclined  to  fall 
into  a  relapse,  if  the  remedies  are  neglected,  I  cautioned  the  Rev. 
gentleman,  whom  I  greatly  esteemed  for  his  usefulness  and  moral 
worth,  on  no  account  to  relax  his  remedies,  for,  if  he  did  do  so 
before  the  lungs  were  restored  to  perfect  soundness,  and  all  ten- 
derness and  debility  removed  from  them,  they  were  liable  to  be- 
come diseased, — that  he  must  expect  to  continue  his  efforts  for 
himself  for  three  years  to  come,  and  this  he  could  do  and  be  in 
the  enjoyment  of  health,  and  fulfil  to  a  reasonable  extent  the  du- 
ties of  his  profession.  His  letter  tells  the  rest.  I  have  not  heard 
from  him  since  I  received  the  letter. 

"Warren,  R.  I.,  Nov.  26th,  1845. 
"  S.  S.  FITCH,  M.  D. :  , 

"  Dear  sir, — Yours  of  the  24th  was  received  last  evening ; 
and  I  hasten  to  answer  it,  in  the  best  manner  I  can  ;  regretting, 
however,  it  had  not  come  to  hand  some  time  ago.  I  would  state 
here,  that  when  I  first  saw  you,  in  February  last,  I  was  judged 
by  my  friends,  and  several  eminent  physicians  whom  I  had  con- 
sulted, to  be  in  an  advanced  stage  of  consumption.  The  upper 
lobe  of  both  lungs  had  been  diseased  for  some  time ;  the  right 
for  nearly  two  years.  I  had  a  very  distressing  cough,  and 
most  of  the  symptoms  attending  that  disease  ;  a  loss  of  strength, 
and  great  emaciation.  After  commencing  the  use  of  your  medi- 


150  PROOFS  OF  THE 

cine,  and  following  your  directions,  I  began  to  amend.  My 
cough  abated  ;  night  sweats  subsided  ;  I  could  sleep  well ;  gained 
my  strength,  and,  in  a  great  measure,  my  flesh.  I  could  preach 
once  on  the  Sahbath,  without  feeling  any  inconvenience ;  and 
sometimes  twice,  but  generally  felt  fatigued  after.  I  thought 
myself  almost  well ;  and  think  I  should  have  been  entirely  so, 
if  I  had  continued  faithfully  to  use  your  remedies.  But  I  must 
here  make  a  confession :  as  I  improved  in  health,  I  grew  remiss 
in  the  use  of  the  remedies ;  and  taking  an  agency,  which  neces- 
sarily took  me  away  from  home  most  of  the  time,  I  found  it  in- 
convenient sometimes,  and,  of  course,  in  a  great  measure,  left 
off  the  use  of  the  means.  I  continued  improving  until  about  the 
last  of  September,  when  I  took  a  very  severe  cold,  by  putting  on 
some  clothes  that  were  damp.  By  a  careful  use  of  the  means,  I 
kept  it  irom  my  lungs,  and  seemed  to  recover,  but  not  fully  ;  and 
being  from  home,  with  a  distressing  pain  in  my  head,  distress  at 
my  stomach  and  chest,  was  induced  to  send  to  a  physician  for 
an  emetic,  which  I  unfortunately  took.  It  was  antimony,  and 
operated  but  little,  as  an  emetic,  but  severely  as  a  cathartic  ; 
and,  occurring  in  the  night,  I  had  frequent  discharges  of  blood; 
and  it  left  me  very  much  debilitated,  with  an  entire  loss  of  appe- 
tite. I  took  two  Dover's  powders  of  the  doctor,  to  relieve  the 
pain  in  my  intestines  ;  but  these  threw  me  into  a  violent  paroxysm 
of  asthma,  and  irritated  my  cough.  I  found,  if  I  did  not  leave 
for  home  shortly,  I  should  hardly  get  there.  Returning,  I  took 
another  cold,  which  settled  on  my  lungs ;  and  what  with  loss-  of 
appetite,  &c.,  I  have  since  been  running  down,  for  three  weeks. 
Weak,  and  thin  of  flesh,  restless  nights,  and  tearing  cough,  I  al- 
most despaired.  Since  taking  a  little  tonic,  in  the  form  of  elder- 
berry syrup,  I  find  myself  better :  my  appetite  improves;  my 
cough  abates ;  and  I  feel  more  strength,  and  more  encourage- 
ment. I  think  the  emetic  did  me  serious  injury,  arid  will  take 
some  time  to  gel  over  it.  I  have  some  of  your  medicines,  which 
I  am  again  using.  I  have  a  little  of  the  Nervine,  of  the  Expec- 
torant, and  the  Pulmonary  Balsam  ;  also  some  brown  and  yellow 
powders  I  do  not  use,  which  you  first  gave  me.  I  have  felt  so 
much  better,  for  three  or  four  days,  that  I  begin  to  hope  again 
that  I  may  recover.  I  feel  it  a  duty  to  give  you  the  above  infor- 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  151 

mation,  to  clear  you  and  your  medicines  from  being  in  any  man- 
ner accountable  for  the  failure  of  the  cure  in  my  case. 

"  I  have  an  aversion  to  my  name  appearing  before  the  public, 
in  almost  any  form;  nevertheless,  I  have  not  the  least  hesitation 
in  saying  that,  from  my  acquaintance  with  you,  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  form  an  opinion,  I  have  the  fullest  confidence  in  your 
candor  and  integrity,  as  a  man,  and  a  gentleman ;  and,  as  to 
your  mode  of  treatment  and  prescriptions,  for  pulmonary  diseases, 
I  think  them  superior  to  any  other  I  have  met  with  ;  and  should 
feel  entire  confidence  in  submitting  myself,  or  my  friends,  to  your 
care,  believing  that,  if  within  the  reach  of  any  remedies,  yours 
would  be  the  most  efficacious  in  affording  relief. 
"  I  am,  affectionately,  yours,  &c., 

"  WILLIAM  LIVESEY. 

"  N.  B. — I  should  be  glad  to  hear  from,  and  receive  any  ad- 
vice you  may  think  needful ;  and,  could  I  know  where  a  letter 
would  find  you,  in  a  month  from  this  time,  I  would  write  you 
further  particulars  of  my  state  of  health.  W.  L." 


CASE  XVII.— MM  Cynthia  R.   Ward. 

In  April,  1845,  I  saw  Miss  Ward  at  New  Bedford,  Mass.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Jonathan  R.  Ward,  a  respectable  and  well 
known  citizen  of  that  place.  Miss  Ward  was  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  her  age.  She  had  been  sick  many  months,  with  true 
pulmonary  consumption.  She  had  always  been  scrofulous.  Na- 
ture, with  her,  had  ceased  for  some  time.  So  reduced  was  she, 
and  so  overcome,  that  she  fainted,  after  I  had  examined  her  chest. 
On  examining  the  chest,  I  found  the  top  of  both  lungs  tubercula- 
ted  and  ulcerated.  She  had  a  very  bad  cough, — raised  ulcera- 
ted matter  every  day ;  had  daily  fever,  night  sweats,  and  mo- 
derate appetite.  Her  situation  was  the  more  alarming,  as  she 
had  lost  two  aunts  by  this  dreadful,  and  to  her  most  dreaded,  dis- 
ease— consumption.  Her  case  was,  of  course,  very  doubtful.  I, 
however,  gave  her  her  remedies,  and  all  the  encouragement  in 
my  power.  Her  recovery  was  very  rapid.  On  the  12th  of 
June  she  gave  me  the  following  letter.  I  saw  her  again  near 
the  end  of  October,  1845.  Her  nature  had  become  regular;  shs 


152  PROOFS  OF  THE 


was  ruddy  and  fleshy,  had  no  cough,  and  was  in  perfect  health ; 
perfectly  able  to  walk,  to  exercise,  and  perform  any  duties  in 
the  house  she  pleased.  In  January,  1846,  I  was  at  Portsmouth, 
N.  H.,  and,  in  a  public  lecture,  mentioned  the  names  of  Miss 
Ward  and  her  father.  A  gentleman  deeply  interested  in  the 
question  of  the  cure  of  consumption,  wrote  to  Mr.  Ward,  to  as- 
certain  the  correctness  of  my  statements  in  regard  to  his  daugh- 
ter's case  ;  and  received  the  letter  which  follows  that  of  his 
daughter.  After  the  gentleman  in  Portsmouth  had  read  the  let- 
ter, and  showed  it 'to  his  friends,  he  gave  it  to  me. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Miss  Cynthia  R.  Ward  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"New.Bedford,  June  12th,-  1845. 
"DR.  S.  S.  FITCH: 

"  Dear  Sir, — In  December  last,  1844, 1  took  a  bad  cold,  which 
I  neglected,  and  which  soon  became  a  confirmed  cough,  and  set- 
tled on  my  lungs.  Several  physicians  attended  me,  but  no  re- 
lief. The  disease  gradually  and  insidiously  advanced.  All  my 
friends  doubted  of  my  recovery.  I  had  a  poor  appetite,  constant 
cough,  night  sweats,  raising  a  good  deal,  &c.,  had  always  been 
scrofulous,  great  loss  of  flesh  and  strength, — in  fact,  not  expected 
to  live  four  months.  I  first  saw  you  on  April  21st,  1845.  I  am 
now,  June  12th,  all  but  entirely  well ;  no  pain,  very  little  cough, 
some  days  none  ;  appetite  good,  headache  all  gone,  no  night 
sweats,  sleep  well,  and,  in  fact,  feel  as  well  as  ever  in  my  life. 
All  my  friends  rejoice  with  me  in  my  happy  recovery.  I  have 
gained  many  pounds  of  flesh,  and  all  my  good  looks,  and  must 
recommend  your  practice.  CYNTHIA  R.  WARD." 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  J.  R.  Ward,  Esq.,  to  Samuel  L.  Cleaves. 

"New-Bedford,  Dec.  19th,  1845. 
"  SAMUEL  L.  CLEAVES  : 

"  Sir, — Yours  of  the  16th  came  to  hand  last  evening,  and  I 
hasten  to  answer  your  inquiries  relative  to  Dr.  Fitch. 

"  The  first  knowledge  I  had  of  him  was  early  last  spring  ;  he 
was  then  giving  free  lectures  on  consumption,  its  treatment, 
&c.  I  did  not  go  to  hear  him,  thinking  it  a  mere  money-catch- 
ing concern.  At  the  time  I  hail  a  daughter  sixteen  years  old, 


CURE  OP  CONSUMPTION.  153 

apparently  fast  going  down  with  consumption.  It  was  suggest, 
ed  to  me  by  my  wife,  to  call  upon  him,  relative  to  her  case.  I 
had  no  confidence  in  him,  and  therefore  did  not  at  first  assent,  but 
on  further  consideration  yielded  to  my  wife's  solicitations,  think, 
ing  it  would  ease  both  of  our  minds  to  think  we  did  all  we  could, 
although  she  might  not  live.  The  Doctor  prescribed.  The  pre- 
scriptions were  attended  to>  and  she  gradually  mended*  Her  bad 
cough  was  soon  eased,  and  finally,  in  a  few  weeks,  entirely  left 
her;  her  appetite  and  strength  returned,  and  in  less  "than  three 
months,  she  was  apparently  as  well  as  ever ;  she  is  now  smart 
and  active,  and  goes  out  in  almost  any  tolerable  weather.  When 
here,  he  had  many  patients,  and,  1  believe,  there  was  not  any  evil 
report  concerning  him.  He  had  the  character  of  a  candid  and 
honest  man.  He  did  not  promise  to  help  all  that  applied,  but  1 
believe  that  almost  all  that  he  promised  to  help,  acknowledge 
that  they  are  helped.  And  although,  in  a  population  of  sixteen 
thousand,  I  cannot  know  but  a  few,  yet  of  that  few  I  have  a  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  several  of  my  friends,  out  of  my  family,  that 
have  been  cured  by  his  advice,  medicines  and  apparatus,  who 
speak  well,  and  affectionately,  and  enthusiastically  of  him.  In 
fine,  we  '  speak  well  of  the  bridge  that  carried  us  safe  over/ 
and  '  judge  of  the  tree  by  its  fruit.'  I  fully  and  firmly  believe, 
that,  under  God,  he  was  the  instrument  of  thus  far  saving  the 
life  of  my  daughter,  which  was  fast  wearing  away.  I  never 
saw  him  to  know  him  from  any  other  person,  but  I  think,  should 
he  ever  visit  our  town  again,  I  should  certainly  try  to  see  him, 

"  Yours  respectfulry, 

"  J.  R.  WARD. 

"  P.  S. — Among  those  that  he  cured  beside  my  daughter,  is  Mrs. 
Martha  Rowland,  a  cousin  of  mine,  who  had  been  long  sick,  and 
pining  away.  Her  health  is  now  good,  and  she  is  now  bright 
and  active.  Also  Mrs.  Harriet  Taber  :  she  says  she  is  as  well 
as  ever,  and  her  looks  confirm  what  she  says.  J.  R.  W." 

I  have  now  a  painful  and  distressing  duty  to  perform  in  fol- 
lowing out  the  results  of  this  case*  I  left  her  hi  October,  1845, 
in  perfect  health  ;  but,  as  I  had  mentioned  before,  her  lungs  be- 
ing  recently  healed,  were  very  tender,  and  readily  liable  to  re- 


154  PROOFS  OF  THE 


lapse  from  any  cause  tending  to  destroy  the  lungs.  This  liabil- 
ity to  relapse  will  continue  from  eighteen  months  to  three  years, 
more  or  less,  as  the  persons  are  delicate  or  robust,  and  as  the 
health  and  perfection  of  the  lungs  is  more  or  less  perfectly  re- 
Stored.  After  this  takes  place,  and  the  lungs  of  the  consumptive 
become  sound,  they  are  apt  to  continue  through  a  long  period  of 
years  totally  exempt  from  pulmonary  disease,  or  any  liability  to 
it.  I  told  you  that  nature  with  Miss  Ward  was  at  times  irregu- 
lar, arid  this  in  young  ladies  is  a  terrible  calamity,  and  most  fear- 
fully  predisposes  to  consumption.  I  told  you  Miss  Ward  was 
regular  in  this  respect  when  I  saw  her  in  October.  November 
came— with  it  irregularity  ;  and  so  did  December,  January,  Fe- 
bruary, and  March.  Early  in  March,  her  father  wrote  me  a  letter, 
informing  me  of  this  circumstance,  and  that  his  daughter's  health 
had  very  much  declined,  and  that  she  had  great  hoarseness,  some 
cough,  much  prostration  of  strength,  and  strong  indications  of 
confirmed  consumption.  It  was  riot  now  too  late  to  save  her,  but 
I  was  then  on  a  wasting  bed  of  sickness,  and  not  much  expected 
to  recover  from  a  long  continued  fever,  which  continued  so  long 
that  the  letter  was  not  shown  to  me  until  the  next  June.  I  then 
directed  a  note  to  be  written  to  Mr.  Ward,  explaining  the  reason 
of  my  not  attending  to  his  letter,  and  asking  his  daughter's  situa- 
tion, that  I  might  assist  her  again,  if  possible.  I  received  an 
answer  that  she  died  on  the  22d  of  May,  1846.  A  little  assistance 
at  the  proper  time,  and  this  young  lady,  barring  accidents,  might 
have  lived  to  old  age.  Irregularities  of  nature  must  not  be  allowed 
in  young  ladfes,  for,  if  long  continued,  it  will  find  for  them  an 
early  grave.  No  one  more  deeply  sympathizes  with  her  parents 
tfian  myself. 


CASE  XVI1L— Mr.  Thaddeus  Barnes. 

In  October,  1844,  I  was  consulted  at  New-Haven,  Ct.,  by  the 
subject  of  the  following  case.  His  father  died  of  consumption, 
and  "n  every  respect  he  was,  himself,  highly  consumptive  in  ap- 
pearance. He  was  about  twenty-four  years  of  age.  He  had 
been  declining  in  health  for  two  years  ;  he  was  extremely  ema- 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  155 

elated  ;  his  face  was  white  as  a  sheet,  the  complexion  perfectly 
blanched  ;  he  had  a  bad  cough ;  raised  considerable  every  day, 
and  frequently  raised  blood  ;  the  morning  I  saw  him  he  had 
raised  considerable  blood.  His  friends  had  no  hope  of  his  re- 
covery, and  he  had  very  little  himself.  His  recovery  was  very 
satisfactory.  I  heard  from  him  about  eighteen  months  after, 
and  that  he  was  in  good  health.  I  saw  him  in  October,  1845, 
twelve  months  after  he  called  on  me.  He  was  then  in  fine  health 
and  spirits.  I  saw  him  again  on  October  28th,  1846,  in  good 
health. 


Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Thaddeus  Barnes  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  New-Haven,  Oct.  8th,  1845. 
"  Dr.  S.  S,  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  sir, — I  cheerfully  comply  with  your  request  for  a  con- 
cise account  of  my  situation,  previous  to  my  acquaintance  with 
yourself,  and  your  remedies.  For  some  two  years  I  had  felt  that 
my  health  was  gradually  declining,  and  for  some  eight  or  ten 
months,  prior  to  your  vasit  to  New-Haven,  my  friends  had  become 
quite  alarmed  at  my  symptoms.  My  hands  and  feet  were  al- 
ways cold.  A  constant  hacking  cough  had  produced  extreme 
soreness  in  the  chest,  together  with  bleeding  from  the  lungs  at 
seven  or  eight  different  periods.  My  flesh  was  wasting  away, 
and  my  strength  so  far  gone  that  ascending  a  flight  of  stairs  with 
more  than  ordinary  haste,  would  completely  exhaust  me.  In 
fine,  my  friends  were  bold  to  tell  me  I  had  thef  consumption. 
This  was  and  had  been  my  situation  at  and  before  your  visit  to 
our  city.  After  placing  myself  under  your  treatment,  I  very  soon 
began  to  improve.  In  two  months  I  had  gained  ten  or  twelve 
pounds  of  flesh.  My  cough  was  silenced  in  about  one  week,  and 
I  have  never  been  troubled  with  it  since.  Without  detailing 
further,  I  can  say  my  health  has  been  good  most  of  the  time 
since  I  commenced  with  your  remedies.  Believing,  sir,  that  you 
was  the  means  of  my  restoration  to  health,  I  subsc  ribe  myself, 
"  Yours,  under  lasting  obligations, 

"THADDEJS  BARNES." 


156  PROOFS  OF  THE 

CASE  XIX.— Miss  Mary  D.  Angett. 

The  subject  of  this  case,  a  beautiful  young  lady,  consulted  me 
at  Providence,  R.  I.,  on  the  fifth  of  March,  1845.  This  young 
lady  was  the  last  of  her  family,  her  father  having  died  of  con- 
sumption. A  young  sister  died  some  years  before  of  some  sudden 
ung  or  throat  disease,  and  another  and  only  sister,  her  constant 
companion,  being  nearly  of  her  age,  had  died  of  consumption  in 
July  previous,  1844.  She  had  constant  cough,  much  fever,  raised 
matter  daily,  and  at  times  there  was  blood.  She  had  also  hectic 
fever  and  night  sweats.  I  do  not  believe  she  had  one  friend  or  ac- 
quaintance who  thought  she  could  survive  much  beyond  the 
period  of  her  sister's  death.  Her  interesting  age,  her  beauty  and 
her  danger,  made  a  powerful  impression  upon  my  feelings.  I 
gave  her  her  remedies,  and  strong  hopes  of  recovery.  Her  mo- 
ther privately  said  to  me,  "  Tell  me  exactly  what  you  think  of  my 
daughter,  as  I  have  given  up  every  hope  of  her  recovery,  and  do 
not  wish  you  to  give  me  the  least  encouragement,  unless  you  feel 
certain  she  will  live."  Her  lungs  were  highly  congested,  besides 
suffering  from  tubercles  and  ulceration.  In  July  following,  in 
place  of  the  habiliments  of  the  grave,  wedding  dresses  were  pre- 
pared for  her.  She  is  at  this  time  in  excellent  healt'h. 

"  Providence,  June  16th,  1845. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH— Sir : 

"  I  take  the  greatest  pleasure  in  informing  you,  that  after  six 
months  of  cough  and  all  indications  of  consumption,  my  father's 
death,  and  a  dear  sister,  who  died  of  consumption,  in  July,  1844, 
had  induced  me  to  expect  their  fate.  All  my  friends  and  mother 
pretty  much  gave  me  up  as  soon  to  die.  In  March  last,  15th,  you 
saw  me  ;  I  took  your  remedies ;  1  was  then  weak,  lost  flesh, 
constant  cough,  raised  a  good  deal,  and  raised  blood,  and  some 
pain  in  the  side.  In  sixty  days  all  vestige  of  disease  left  me ; 
not  a  bit  of  cough  for  five  weeks  past.  I  am  now  in  most  perfect 
health,  flesh  and  looks. 

"  I  must  recommend  your  practice,  from  my  own  happy  ex- 
perience of  its  delightful  and  happy  effects. 

"  My  mother  and  all  my  friends,  with  myself,  give  you  our 
best  thauka,  "  Miss  ANGELL." 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  157 


CASE  XX.— Miss  Sarah  G.  Nickerson. 

In  April,  1845,  I  was  consulted  at  New-Bedford  by  this  young 
lady,  who  resided  at  Fair  Haven,  opposite  New-Bedford.  I  re- 
lieved her  entirely  from  the  indisposition  under  which  she  had 
labored  for  some  years.  I  returned  to  New-Bedford  in  June,  and 
found  a  letter  at  the  Hotel,  requesting,  should  I  come  to  New-Bed- 
ford, to  call  over  and  see  this  young  lady.  I  will  now  remark, 
that  every  physician  should  be  a  master  of  medical  remedies. 
His  mind  should  be  expanded  to  successfully  meet  every  case,  and 
learn  judiciously  to  diversify  his  treatment.  Some  physicians 
are  so  stupid  as  to  use  the  same  set  of  remedies  perhaps  an  hun- 
dred successive  times,  and  always  without  success,  seeming  not 
to  know  how  to  diversify  their  practice.  1  found  Miss  Nickerson 
in  a  very  deplorable  state  of  health.  She  had  had  a  very  severe 
pleurisy  upon  the  right  side,  and  inflammation  of  the  right  lung ; 
and  this  had  continued  for  upwards  of  three  weeks,  until  nearly 
every  hope  of  recovery  had  vanished.  The  day  before  I  called, 
she  had,  in  the  most  aiFecting  manner,  intimated  to  her  friends, 
that  she  thought  she  could  live  but  a  short  time,  and  in  this  they 
all  concurred.  She  had  constant  burning  fever," total  loss  of  ap- 
petite, incessant  cough,  dry  and  hot  skin,  cold  feet,  great  pros- 
tration  of  strength,  wretched  sleepless  nights,  and  much  pain 
over  the  right  side.  She  had  taken  a  great  deal  of  medicine,  un- 
til it  seemed  as  if  she  could  take  no  more,  so  prostrated  had  she 
become,  and  so  injured  was  the  tone  of  her  stomach.  She  had 
been  blistered  very  much  upon  her  side ;  horrid  tartar  emetic 
sores  had  been  made  upon  her  side  and  breast,  and  finally,  to  shut 
out  all  air  from  her  chest,  the  whole  chest  was  covered  with  oil- 
silk  ;  but  beneath  the  silk  were  plasters,  salves,  and  an  abun- 
dance of  sores.  On  examining  the  chest,  scarcely  any  air  enter- 
ed the  right  lung  ;  the  lung  seemed  to  be  utterly  closed  up. 
Every  remedy  had  seemed  to  have  failed  of  conferring  any  bene- 
fit. All  this,  joined  with  complete  prostration  of  strength,  seemed 
to  make  the  case  almost  hopeless.  In  addition,  she  had  been  deli- 
cately brought  up,  and  was  of  rather  effeminate  habits.  I,  however, 
did  not  despair  of  her  recovery,  and  told  her  so.  It  was  a  warm 
afternoon  when  I  saw  her.  I  told  her  at  six  o'dock  to  put  her 


158  PROOFS  OF  THE 

feet  in  very  hot  water,  and  keep  them  there  until  they  were 
perfectly  warm,  and  until  the  blood  circulated  freely  through  the 
lower  extremities,  and  to  raise  the  heat,  if  possible,  to  produce 
general  perspiration.  After  this  had  been  accomplished,  I  re- 
quested her  to  remove  every  thing  from  the  chest,  oil-silk,  plas- 
ters, salve,  and  every  thing  of  the  kina,  as  much  as  possible;  and 
after  that  was  done,  to  dip  a  moderately  sized  linen  table-cloth 
in  cold  water,  and  wrap  up  the  chest,  and  indeed  the  whole 
person ;  then  to  place  herself  in  bed  and  be  covered  up  warm. 
I  directed  her  to  keep  on  the  wet  cloth  for  three  hours,  then  take 
it  off  and  be  sponged  over  with  cold  salt  and  water ;  then  be  wiped 
and  rubbed  dry,  and  placed  pleasantly  in  bed.  I  also  gave  her 
such  medicines  as  I  thought  suitable  for  her  case.  The  use  of 
the  wet  cloth,  as  first  directed,  I  recommended  to  be  used  in  the 
same  way  every  evening,  until  all  pain  and  soreness  should  have 
left  the  chest,  and  all  fever  been  dispelled  from  the  system ;  and 
after  this,  to  wash  her  person  all  over,  every  day,  with  cold  salt 
and  water ;  to  go  out  as  soon  as  possible,  and  to  wear  no  more 
clothing  about  her  chest  than  was  comfortable;  to  put  no  more  oil- 
silk  or  plasters  upon  it ;  and  finally,  as  soon  as  she  found  the  side 
relieved  of  pain,  and  the  fever  somewhat  dispelled,  to  use  her  in- 
haling  tube  in  the  freest  manner,  so  as  to  open  and  expand  the 
collapsed  lung.  In  one  week  I  received  a  letter  from  her,  stating 
that  she  was  much  better  •  in  six,  she  visited  me  at  Fall  River,  in 
company  with  a  female  friend,  who  required  my  assistance. 
Miss  Nickerson  was  then  in  blooming  health.  I  should  have  re- 
marked in  the  proper  place,  that  when  I  told  them  to  wrap  her 
up  in  a  wet  cloth,  they  were  as  much  astounded  as  if  I  had  told 
them  to  kill  her,  nor  would  it  have  been  adopted  had  she  not  before 
have  tried  nearly  every  other  remedy  without  success,  and  had  she 
not  have  previously  experienced  benefit  from  my  prescriptions. 
I  saw  her  in  the  following  October.  She  enjoyed  the  finest  health. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Miss  Sarah  G.  Nickerson  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Filch. 

"  Fairhaven,  July  18th,  1845. 
"DR.  FITCH: 

"  Respected  friend, — In  answer   to    your  kind  inquiry  con- 
corning  my  health,  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  of  its  rapid  improve- 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  159 

ment.  You  doubtless  recollect  the  situation  you  found  me  in 
when  you  so  kindly  and  unexpectedly  called.  Suffering  with  a 
constant  pain  in  my  side  and  across  the  chest,  and  in  my  shoul- 
ders, a  dry  hard  cough,  shortness  of  breath,  a  burning  fever,  and 
entire  debility,  I  felt  myself  sinking  fast,  and  the  only  encou- 
raging words  said  to  me  by  my  physicians  and  friends  were,  *  The 
warm  weather  is  in  your,  favor.'  You,  sir,  like  some  kind  angel 
commissioned  by  Heaven,  declared  I  might  yet  live.  After  fol- 
lowing your  prescriptions  two  or  three  days,  I  could  rest  sweetly 
all  night,  which  I  had  not  done  before  for  many  weeks,  and  my 
appetite,  which  was  entirely  gone,  was  completely  restored,  my 
cough  ceased,  and  the  soreness  of  my  lungs  and  chest  disap- 
peared. I  am  gaining  in  strength  and  weight  ;  and  I  will  add. 
the  benefit  I  have  received  from  your  medicines,  together  with 
the  shoulder  brace  and  inhaling  tube,  cannot  be  expressed. 

"  I  therefore  most  cheerfully  recommend  to  all  similarly  afflicted 
with  myself,  your  remedies,  and  would  advise  them  not  to  give  up 
to  consumption's  fatal  grasp  until  they  have  given  them  a  trial. 

"  And  now,  kind  sir,  please  accept  my  warmest  thanks  for 
your  kindness  ;  and  that  Heaven's  richest  blessings  may  rest  on 
you  and  yours  is  the  sincere  wish  of  your  friend, 

"  SARAH  G.  NICKERSON." 


CASE  XXL— Mr.  Jeduthan  Thompson. 

In  the  latter  part  of  October,  1844,  at  New-Haven,  Ct.,  I  was 
most  particularly  requested  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wm.  Storer  to  visit 
a  gentleman,  a  friend  of  theirs,  who  was  very  low  in  consump- 
tion ;  but,  said  Mrs.  Storer,  "  I  do  not  know  that  it  will  be  of  the 
least  use,  but  it  would  be  a  great  gratification  to  us,  and  to  the 
sick  person  and  his  family. "  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Storer  had  heard  me 
lecture.  Mr.  Storer  is  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  in  New-EIaven. 
A  few  evenings  after  I  went  to  Mr.  Storer's  to  see  the  gentleman 
Jeduthan  Thompson.  Mr.  Thompson  was  about  37  years  of  age. 
His  health  had  been  declining  for  about  one  year,  attended  with 
very  considerable  pain  in  the  chest.  Six  or  eight  weeks  before  I 
saw  him  he  was  taken  with  bleeding  from  his  lungs,  followed  by 
severe  cough,  fever,  great  expectoration  of  matter  from  the  lungs 


160  PROOFS  OP  THE 


and  universal  prostration  of  strength.  A  very  respectable  phy- 
sician attended  him,  and  another  eminent  physician  had  visited 
him  in  consultation  with  his  attending  physician.  Their  united 
conclusions  were,  that  he  was  fast  hastening  to  his  grave.  No 
medical  remedies  that  had  been  employed  seemed  to  exert  any 
salutary  influence  whatever.  His  feet  and  lower  extremities  were 
icy-cold  to  his  body.  He  was  very  greatly  emaciated,  expe- 
rienced much  daily  fever,  had  a  very  bad  cough,  and  raised  a 
great  deal.  Some  time  afterwards,  his  wife  told  me  she  did  not 
think  he  could  have  lived  six  weeks.  On  examining  his  chest,  I 
found  a  large  ulcer  in  the  top  of  the  right  lung  ;  the  top  of  the 
left  lung  was  also  somewhat  affected,  and  he  was  very  much 
emaciated.  I  gave  Mr.  Thompson  his  remedies.  In  two  or  three 
weeks  he  came  to  the  hotel  to  see  me.  The  next  June  he  visited 
me  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  and  continued  with  me  until  March,  1846. 
Under  my  direction  his  health  constantly  improved,  until  he  be- 
came a  very  healthy  man.  I  received  a  letter  from  him  this  day, 
(October  30, 1846,)  in  which  he  says  his  health  has  not  been  bet- 
ter for  ten  years.  Eleazar  T.  Fitch,  Esq.,  is  one  of  the  Profes- 
sors in  Yale  College.  Mr.  Thompson  is  a  very  upright,  worthy 
man. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jedulhan  Thompson  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  In  September  last,  I  was  taken  with  bleeding  at  the  lungs, 
and  had  three  very  severe  spells  within  the  space  of  three  days, 
which  occasioned  much  loss  of  blood.  I  lay  for  several  weeks 
on  my  back,  unable  to  get  up,  and  was  obliged  to  take  all  my 
nourishment  from  a  spoon,  just  as  I  lay.  I  was  troubled  with  a 
severe  pain,  running  from  my  breast  to  my  back,  a  sickness  at 
my  stomach,  and  a  head-ache.  My  lungs  appeared,  from  the  dis* 
charges  by  expectoration,  to  be  badly  ulcerated,  and  I  was 
troubled  with  a  severe  cough.  My  feet  and  legs  were  very  cold, 
my  appetite  gone,  and  my  physicians  gave  but  little  hope  of  my 
ever  being  any  better.  I  lay  in  this  way  for  five  or  six  weeks, 
when  Dr.  Fitch  came  to  see  me.  After  I  commenced  following 
his  prescriptions  I  could  perceive  a  change  for  the  better.  The 
foot-bath  relieved  that  coldness  in  my  feet,  and  by  the  use  of  the 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  161 

balsam,  tube,  and  brace,  I  have  obtained  such  a  mitigation  of  rny 
cough  and  other  complaints,  that  I  enjoy  my  meals  and  my  sleep, 
and  anxable  to  travel  about  with  comfort,  though  not  yet  strong 
enough  to  labor. 

"  JEDTJTHAN  THOMPSON. 
"  New  Haven,  June  23d,  1845." 

"  From  my  knowledge  of  many  of  the  facts  contained  in  the 
above  statement,  and  from  my  confidence  in  the  character  of 
Mr.  Thompson,  I  can  vouch  for  the  whole  narrative  as  true. 

"  ELEAZAR  T.  FITCH." 

"  Having  visited  Mr.  Thompson  in  company  with  Doct.  Fitch, 
the  first  time  he  called  to  prescribe  for  him,  I  can  testify  to  the 
accuracy  of  the  above  statement.  And  it  affords  me  unfeigned 
pleasure  to  see  Mr.  T.  so  far  recovered  from  his  illness,  (through 
Dr.  F.'s  means,  as  I  believe,)  as  to  be  able  to  travel. 

"  WM.  STOKER. 

"New  Haven,  June  24,  1845.' 

CASE  XXII.— Mr.  Alfred  M.  Beck. 

In  December,  1845,  I  was  consulted  at  Portmouth,  N.  H.,  by 
the  above-named  gentleman,  who  is  well  known  in  Portsmouth, 
and  is  a  respectable  citizen  of  that  city.  He  had  lost  a  brother 
of  consumption,  and  was  of  a  consumptive  family.  His  coun- 
tenance was  very  bad.  His  right  lung  was  very  badly  ulcerated. 
He  had  a  truly  grave-yard  cough,  raised  a  good  deal,  and  blood 
at  times.  Pain  about  the  chest,  difficulty  of  breathing  at  night, 
and  short  breath,  night  sweats,  &c.  &c.  Although  given  up 
by  his  physicians,  and  advised  "  to  go  to  his  room  and  die  I" 
still  he  persisted  in  going  out  very  much,  and  in  all  weathers, 
not  allowing  himself  to  keep  in-doors  but  very  little,  indeed  as 
little  as  possible. 

I  gave  him  his  remedies,  which  he  used  with  care.  In  June 
following,  1846,  in  a  letter  to  me,  he  says,  "  Is  it  possible  that  I 
am  well!  I  have  not  coughed  once  in  two  weeks."  1  add  a 
.etter  from  him,  dated  October,  1846. 


163  PROOFS  OF  THE 


"  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Oct.  27th,  1846. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  was  glad  to  hear  from  you  that  your  health  was 
restored.  My  health,  during  the  summer,  has  been  very  good  : 
I  have,  at  times,  a  cough  in  the  morning,  and  at  night,  when  I  first 
lay  down,  and  it  has  been  growing  worse  until  within  a  week.  A 
week  ago  I  resumed  taking  the  panacea  and  pulmonary  powder. 
I  left  off  taking  the  medicines,  as  I  felt  or  thought  I  was  well,  last 
April,  and  have  taken  none  until  within  a  few  days.  I  have  no 
cough  through  the  day ;  it  is  only  in  the  morning  that  I  have  a 
round  turn  at  it.  I  do  not  raise  much  when  I  do  cough.  At  all 
e\ents,  I  have  to  say,  that  I  began  to  mend  and  get  well  after  you 
commenced  upon  me.  Though  our  physicians  laugh  at  it,  I  do 
think  that  to  you,  as  a  human  instrument,  I  owe  now  my  present 
state  of  good  health.  Although  I  am  not  now  a  robust  man,  still 
I  am  about  my  daily  business ;  and  you  must  remember  that  my 
friends  and  others,  the  time  you  said  you  could  get  me  well,  said 
it  was  impossible, — if  you  could  cure  me,  you  could  do  what  no 
other  man  could  do.  The  tube,  braces,  and  cold  water,  I  have 
never  given  up.  The  tube  I  use  every  day ;  the  braces  and  sup- 
porter I  leave  off  occasionally,  and  think  I  feel  as  well  with  the 
supporter  off  as  when  it  is  on. 

"  I  want  to  just  say,  that  one  of  our  doctors  told  me  the  other 
day,  that  he  should  have  prescribed  for  me  as  you  did,  but  that 
my  lungs  were  not  now,  and  he  does  not  think  they  ever  were, 
diseased  ;  that  my  complaint  was  in  the  throat.  '  When  doctors 
disagree,'  &c.  I  have  not,  in  consequence  of  sickness,  lost  the 
first  day  since  I  applied  to  you,  and  I  have  followed  your  advice  as 
near  as  I  could  from  that  time  to  this,  and  it  would  give  me  much 
pleasure  to  see  and  shake  you  by  the  hand  once  more.  My 

prayers  and  best  wishes  go  with  you One  thing 

is  sure,  you  have  many  strong  friends  here  ;  those  who  speak 
and  tell  that  you  helped  them.  You  recollect  old  Mr.  Hall,  the 
painter,  completely  done  up.  as  every  body  thought :  why,  the  old 
man,  after  going  through  your  course,  has  renewed  his  age,  and, 
for  what  I  see,  may  live  many  a  day  yet.  He  has  worked  much 

of  the  summer  at  his  trade 

"  Yours,  in  the  bonds  of  affection, 

"  A.  M.  BECK." 


CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  163 

Copy  of  another  letter  from  Mr.  Beck  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Filch. 

"  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Nov.  6th,  1846. 

"  Dear  sir, — It  gives  me  pleasure  to  answer  yours  last  received  ; 
and  it  also  gives  great  satisfaction,  as  it  would  any  man  who  had 
been  so  much  benefitted  by  another  as  I  have  by  you,  to  say  so. 
When  I  was  advised  by  my  friends  to  call  upon  you,  I  will  be 
honest  and  say,  that  I  had  no  expectation  of  your  doing  me  good, 
for  the  reason  that  by  my  physician  I  was  pronounced  incurable, 
and  in  him  I  had  the  utmost  confidence.  My  cough  was  so  severe, 
that  I  was  obliged  to  lean  myself  against  the  wall  whenever  at- 
tacked. My  nights  were  spent  in  misery, — night  sweats  pro- 
fusely, and  startling  dreams, — shortness  of  breath,  and  such  a 
violent  pain  in  the  chest  and  side,  that  the  bed  to  me  was  dreaded  : 
in  fact,  during  the  day,  when  I  would  throw  myself  down  through 
fa  gue  on  the  bed  or  sofa,  if  I  caught  sleep,  I  awaked  covered 
wL  i  sweat.  With  such  symptoms,  and  growing  weaker  daily,  I 
could  see  no  chance  for  recovery ;  but  thank  Heaven,  I  did  hear 
to  my  friends,  but  with  little  or  no  faith,  that  you  could  do  me 
good.  I  called, — the  result  is  known  to  my  friends,  and  I  am 
now,  by  following  your  advice,  in  what  I  must  call  good  health. 
Since  I  began  to  follow  your  directions,  I  have  been  gaining ;  and 
allow  me  to  say,  while  I  am  spared  as  a  monument  of  God's 
mercy,  some  of  my  friends  who  were  ailing,  and  did  not,  as  they 
were  advised,  call  upon  you,  are  now  beyond  the  art  of  cure, — 
passed  from  this  to  a  better  world,  I  trust. 

"  My  dear  sir,  I  shall  never  forget  you  ;  the  kind  and  encourag- 
ing words  you  gave,  the  precision  with  which  you  pointed  out 
nty  case,  and  the  medicines  you  administered,  are  enough  to  sa- 
tisfy me  you  have  been  spared  and  raised,  as  it  were,  from  the 
bed  of  death,  to  be  a  benefactor  to  mankind  ;  and  thousands  will 
yet  send  up  prayers,  that  your  life  and  health  may  be  precious  in 
the  sight  of  Him,  without  whose  notice  *  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the 
ground.'  "  In  affection,  yours, 

«  A.  M.  BECK." 


164  PROOFS  OF  THE  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


CONCLUSION. 

With  these  cases,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  conclude  my  lee- 
ture  upon  the  proofs  of  the  cure  of  pulmonary  consumption. 
That  some  of  you  may  believe,  and  many  disbelieve,  I  have  no 
doubt.  Were  you  to  ask  for  more  cases,  I  could  give  you  hun- 
dreds of  others  ;*  but  I  have  not  time  to  read  them  to  you  ;  nor 
have  you  time  to  read  them,  were  more  placed  in  your  hands. 

The  cases  are  marked,  important,  and  were  not  done  in  a 
corner.  Should  you  feel  any  personal  interest  in  their  truth,  it 
is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  verify  or  disprove  the  state- 
ments, by  appealing  to  the  persons  themselves,  or  to  their  friends. 

With  these  remarks,  I  leave  the  subject  in  your  hands,  hoping 
that,  if  you,  or  any  of  your  friends,  are  attacked  with  pulmonar  r 
consumption,  or  are  predisposed  to  it,  that  you  will  never  despa.r 
either  of  its  prevention  or  cure,  but  apply  promptly  to  the  means 
I  have  indicated,  and  thus  save  your  own  lives,  or  those  of  your 
friends. 

*  I  have  now  twenty-four  volumes  of  manuscript  notes  of  cases  of  my 
patients. 


FLORA   THOMPSON, 

Died  at  Nashua,  in  North  Carolina,  in  the  year  1908, 
aged  150  years. 


LECTURE    FOURTH. 


TO  LADIES,  ONLY. 

On  the  mode  of  forming  a  fine  Chest,  a  fine  erect  Carriage,  and 
Walk. —  On  the  manner  of  procuring  a  clear  and  beautiful  Com- 
plexion, without  art. —  On  the  causes  of  Lung,  Liver,  and  Stom- 
ach Diseases,  in  Ladies,  and  on  the  Cause  of  Female  Diseases, 
with  their  prevention  and  cure  ;  and  finally,  on  the  best  mode  of 
obtaining  perfect  Symmetry  of  Figure,  and  of  forming  and  fortify- 
ing the  Female  Constitution,  so  as  to  preserve  Health  and  Beauty 
to  the  latest  attainable  periods  of  life. 

LADIES  : 

It  always  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  address  you  on  the 
important  subject  of  health.  It  is  a  most  painful  fact,  that,  from 
a  multiplicity  of  causes,  some  of  which  will  be  enumerated  in 
this  lecture,  the  length  of  female  life  is  greatly  abridged  in  this 
country.  In  fact,  multitudes  of  ladies  are  cut  oft*  in  the  very  be- 
ginning of  adult  life,  and  by  a  variety  of  agents,  whose  influ- 
ences and  injurious  effects  can  be  entirely  obviated  ;  and  some 
of  the  most  prominent,  instead  of  being  instruments  of  destruc- 
tion, as  they  now  are,  may,  by  a  little  knowledge,  be  converted 
into  instruments  of  the  highest  good.  The  duration  of  female 
life  ought  to  equal  that  of  men ;  but,  in  many  sections,  it  would 
seem  to  be  less.  In  the  southern  States,  a  vast  many  men,  who 
attain  to  45  or'  50  years  of  age,  in  that  time  lose  two,  and  some 
three  or  four  wives. 

The  human  frame  is  a  machine,  or  the  trunk  of  the  body  may 
be  said  to  be  a  box,  full  of  machinery.  The  operations  and  life 
of  this  machinery  is  capable  of  continuing  a  great  many  more 
years  than  it  usually  does.  It  ought  to  move  always  one  hun- 
dred years,  and  may  go  on  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  years,  and  probably  more.  To  prove  this  to  be 
:rue,  I  have  only  to  present  to  you  cases  of  persons  who  have 


168  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

lived  to  that  age.  God  is  not  unjust  and  partial ;  he  has  not  made 
one  to  live  one  hundred  and  sixty  years,  and  another  cannot  live 
more  than  twenty  or  thirty.  No,  we  are  all  made  alike;  and 
if  cut  off  prematurely,  it  is,  probably  in  nearly  all  cases,  our 
own  fault.  I  believe,  that  any  lady  who  dies  much  short  of  one 
hundred  years,  it  is  the  result  of  accident,  and  not  incidental  to 
old  age.  The  machine  needs  only  to  be  kept  in  repair,  and  it 
will  continue  its  operations  and  life  to  a  vast  many  years,  and  with 
age,  the  full  enjoyments  of  life. 

The  Countess  of  Desmond  died  in  England  some  years  ago, 
at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  forty  years.  Her  age  is  well  au- 
thenticated by  official  papers.  Margaret  Forster  died  in  Cum- 
berland. England,  in  1771,  aged  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years. 
Flora  Thomson  died  at  Nashua,  in  North  Carolina,  in  1808,  at  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  A  great  number  of  persons 
attended  her  funeral. 

A  woman  died  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  in  the  year  1835,  aged 
one  hundred  and  fifty-four  years.  She  was  a  German  woman, 
and  came  to  this  country,  and  was  sold  in  North  Carolina  for  her 
passage  from  Germany.  It  was  a  custom  in  those  days  for  poor 
emigrants  in  this  way  to  pay  their  passage,  by  being  articled, 
or  indentured,  or  hired  out,  for  a  longer  or  shoiter  period,  until 
their  passage  was  paid.  By  these  papers,  sbe  was  known  to  have 
been  thirty-five  years  old  when  she  arrived,  and  to  have  lived 
one  hundred  and  nineteen  years  after. 

Flora  Forbes  was  living  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  a  short 
time  ago,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years,  and  I 
believe  is  still  living.  She  witnessed  the  battle  of  Culloden  in 
1745,  and  was  then  twenty-seven  years  old. 

'here  is  a  woman  now  living  in  Norfolk,  Virginia,   in   good 
nealth,  who  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  years  old. 

There  was  living,  six  months  ago,  in  the  city  of  Moscow,  in 
Russia,  a  woman  who  was  one  hundred  and  fifty -seven  years  old. 
She  had  had  five  husbands. 

These  cases,  and  a  vast  many  more  I  could  adduce,  show  con- 
clusively, that  the  female  frame  is  made  to  endure  a  vast  many 
more  years  than  it  now  lasts :  that,  in  place  of  dying,  as  multi- 
tudes do,  at  twenty-five  to  thirty,  they  may  live  to  nearly  one 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  169 

hundred  years ;  that  the  average  of  the  female  life.,  in  place  of 
thirty  years,  ought  to  be  and  might  be  one  hundred  years.  You 
that  are  frail  and  delicate,  may  see,  by  the  ages  others  have  at- 
tained, how  much  you  may  hope  for.  If  you  carefully  pursue 
the  means  which  are  actually  known  to  operate  efficiently  in  sup- 
porting  your  health  and  constitution,  you  may  attain  to  very  old 
age. 

There  is  another  reason  why  ladies  should  preserve  their 
health,  because  with  health  you  may  always  preserve  your 
beauty.  Health  and  beauty  are  almost  synonymous  terms ;  you 
can  hardly  have  one  without  the  other.  Good  and  perfect  health, 
in  many  cases,  confers  beauty,  or,  at  least,  good  looks  and  at- 
tractions. With  very  few  and  very  rare  exceptions,  and  those 
arising  from  accident,  God  has  always  traced  upon  your  frames 
the  most  exquisite  lines  of  beauty.  He  has  formed  you  to  be  the 
most  beautiful  of  all  his  works.  The  angels,  in  their  most  re- 
splendant  beauty,  as  fancy  and  poets  and  painters  embody  them, 
take  your  forms,  and  fully  fill  up  all  that  the  imagination  can 
create  of  angelic  beauty.  What  do  you  suppose  is  the  grand 
stimulus  to  man  in  all  his  fatigues,  his  exposures,  his  dangers, 
his  toils,  and  his  privations, — in  the  field,  in  the  workshop,  in  the 
camp, — on  the  stormy  ocean,  by  night,  by  day,  even  facing  the 
cannon's  mouth  ?  What  cheers  the  student  in  his  long  nights  of 
study,  and  wasted  by  untiring  toil  ?  What  sustains  the  mariner 
in  his  long  and  perilous  nights  at  sea  ?  In  fine,  what  sus- 
tains man  in  all  his  innumerable  exposures  and  employments, 
sacrificing  his  ease,  and  often  his  life  ?  It  is  his  love  of 
you — your  charms  are  his  attraction  and  undying  stimulus, — his 
love  for  his  mother,  his  sisters,  his  wife,  his  daughters.  There 
is  a  gulf  fixed  by  the  Creator  between  the  male  and  female  mind, 
which  nothing  can  pass  until  both  meet  in  their  future  angelic 
state.  It  is  impossible  for  the  female  fully  to  comprehend  the 
male  mind,  and  it  is  impossible  for  the  male  to  comprehend  the 
female  mind ;  both  will  remain  ulctinct  whilst  in  this  state  of 
existence.  Each  sex  can  comprehend  itb  own  mind.  All  men 
know  that  woman  is  the  centre  of  all  that  is  charming  and  lovely ; 
no  place  is  attractive  to  us  that  is  not  graced  by  the  presence  of 
woman ;  you  form  the  ornaments  if  our  houses,  our  streets,  our 
8 


170  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

churches,  and  all  peaceful  and  pleasant  assemblages.  To  adorn 
you,  man  traverses  all  the  earth,  bringing  home  diamonds  and 
rubies,  and  pearls  and  costly  gems — he  seeks  the  plumage  of  the 
most  rare  birds — he  devises  stuffs  of  the  softest  texture,  and  of 
the  richest  and  rarest  colors.  He  lays  all  at  your  feet,  and  finds 
in  your  acceptance  and  your  smiles,  and  blandishments,  his  hap- 
piest  rewards.  A  smile  from  you  soothes  the  face  of  care,  and 
wipes  the  perspiration  from  the  brow  of  toil.  In  fine,  without 
you,  the  world  would  become  a  desert,  and  man  a  brute.  Man 
rules  by  strength — woman  controls  by  her  charms. 

Hence,  there  is  a  high,  moral  duty  that  the  female  owes  to  her 
family,  to  her  country,  and  the  world ;  that  is,  to  preserve  her 
charms — to  keep  the  flowers  of  her  own  loveliness  from  fading — 
to  preserve  to  her  latest  days  all  the  splendors  and  realities  of 
her  beauty.  Carelessness  on  this  subject  has  blighted  all  the  hopes 
of  thousands  of  ladies,  and  made  a  wreck  of  happiness  in  many 
families  of  the  best  expectations.  This,  in  too  many  cases,  when 
the  female  is  altogether  unconscious  that  it  is  to  herself  that  these 
ills  are  owing. 

In  a  multitude  of  cases,  for  want  of  attention  to  the  most  obvious 
principles  of  health,  a  wife  may  reduce  her  husband  to  despair, 
and  her  house  to  want, — converting  what  should  be  a  residence  of 
pleasure,  to  a  hospital  for  the  sick.  A  daughter  may,  in  default  of 
a  little  knowledge,  induce  her  own  untimely  death,  and  fill  her 
father's  house  with  never-ending  sorrow. 

For  these  reasons  I  address  you  on  the  subject  of  health,  ex- 
cusing myself  for  calling  you  together,  with  the  hope  that  I  may 
give  such  directions  to  your  views  of  it,  and  its  best  mode 
of  preservation,  as  will  clothe  you  to  your  latest  days  with  the 
highest  adornings  of  beauty,  and  continue  your  lives  to  at  least 
one  hundred  years  in  an  uninterrupted  holiday  of  glowing  health. 

Health  and  beauty  I  use  as  synonymous  terms.  When  I  use 
the  word  healthy  I  might  use  the  word  beauty.  It  is  impossible 
for  a  lady  to  have  beauty  without  health,  and  next  to  impossibility 
to  have  health  without  beauty. 

To  ensure  a  continuance  of  health,  and  with  it  life  and  beauty, 
it  is  necessary  to  have  health  every  day, — not  to  suffer  broken 
health  a  single  day.  Recollect  your  frame  is  a  machine,  and 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES   ONLY.  171 

made  on  the  principle  of  mechanics.  As  far  as  it  has  ever  yet 
been  explored,  it  is  found  to  be  mechanically  formed,  and  to  act 
everywhere  on  mechanical  principles.  To  ensure  its  continu- 
ance in  health,  and  its  life,  it  is  indispensable  that  each  part  should 
have  its  own  perfect  bearing,  and  fill  its  own  proper  place.  No 
wear  or  tear  should  be  allowed  in  one  place  more  than  another. 
You  should  see,  and  be  certain,  that  the  duty  or  office  of  each  part 
should  be  properly  and  certainly  performed, — that  no  deficiency 
or  excess  exists  in  the  doings  or  functions  of  any  organs,  or  part 
of  the  machinery  of  your  frames.  Let  no  part  suffer,  or  act  too 
little,  or  too  much.  As  a  reward,  perfect  and  long-continued, 
and  uninterrupted  health,  will  enure  to  you.  By  moderate  prac- 
tice, you  will  experimentally  learn  that  all  the  organs  of  your 
body  are  your  servants, — you  may  make  them  playthings,  to  do 
your  bidding  at  your  pleasure.  By  a  little  precaution,  and  the 
application  of  a  little  well-timed  knowledge,  you  may  prevent  the 
anguish  of  disease,  and  cure  it  if  it  takes  place.  You  may  pre- 
serve your  healths  under  nearly  all  circumstances  of  luxury,  and 
affluence  and  ease,  or  of  exposure,  privation,  fatigue,  or  misfor- 
tune. To  ensure  the  entire  expression  of  health,  and  with  it,  and 
by  it,  the  nearest  approaches  to  perfect  beauty,  you  should  pos- 
sess a  fine  figure,  always  at  your  command, — a  fine  carriage  of 
your  head  and  person,  and  an  elegant  elastic  step  and  walk,  bril- 
liant eyes,  clear  complexion,  the  rose  and  the  lily  in  just  propor- 
tion, and  equally  blended  and  perfect, — teeth  of  a  pure  shining 
white.  Of  these  you  can  be  the  possessors.  If  already  in  broken 
health,  the  use  of  such  means  as  actually  exist,  and  faithfully 
pursued  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period,  will  usually  restore  you  to 
health  and  beauty. 

The  female  frame  is  made,  as  I  have  before  told  you,  to  last 
in  full  strength  a  great  number  of  years.  In  order  to  this,  every 
part  of  it  should  have  its  perfect  mechanical  bearing.  It  is  com- 
posed of  a  great  many  parts,  each  part  must  occupy  its  natural 
and  appropriate  situation.  Each  bone — each  muscle,  must  be  in 
its  proper  place.  All  the  great  organs,  as  the  lungs,  the  heart, 
the  stomach,  the  bowels,  &c.,  all  have  their  appropriate  and 
natural  places.  Each  should  occupy  the  space  and  place 
originally  assigned  to  it,  and  prepared  for  it.  After  every  or- 


172  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

gan  of  the  body,  and  every  part  of  the  frame,  is  in  its  place, 
and  perfect,  the  continuance  of  th^se  several  parts  in  their 
places  depends  on  yourselves.  The  mode  in  which  we  carry 
the  frame,  the  way  we  dispose  of  it,  will  determine  very  greatly 
whether  the  organs  of  the  body,  and  all  its  parts,  shall  remain  in 
their  places  or  not.  By  improper  positions  of  the  frame,  long 
continued,  every  organ  of  the  body  may  become  dislocated, — that 
is,  displaced  from  its  original  natural  position, — and  by  this  its 
functions  deranged,  and  health  destroyed,  and  life  prematurely 
cut  off.  Symmetry  is  the  foundation  of  all  health  and  beauty. 
Just  as  we  recede  from  symmetry,  just  in  that  proportion  do  we 
push  from  us  the  certainty  of  health,  and  the  probability  of  life. 
Recollect,  there  is  not  an  organ  of  the  whole  body  that  may  not  be 
dislocated, — wind-pipe,  lungs,  heart,  stomach,  bowels,  liver,  kid- 
neys, bladder,  womb,  &c.  •  all  are  capable  of  changing  place, 
more  or  less.  In  fine,  there  are  but  two  grand  causes  of  all  dis- 
eases. One  is  poison,  and  the  other  loss  of  symmetry.  Small- 
pox, measles,  sca'rlet  fever,  &c.,  proceed  from  poison,  also  typhus 
fever,  skin  diseases,  &c.  ;  whilst  nearly  all  chronic  diseases  pro- 
ceed from  loss  of  symmetry — as  consumption,  in  nearly  all  cases. 
Heart  diseases  proceed  from  loss  of  symmetry,  &c. 

The  first  point  to  which  I  will  call  your  attention,  is  the  sym- 
metry of  the  head  and  neck.  The  head  is  constructed  to  stand 
plumb  and  perpendicular  upon  the  top  of  the  bones  of  the 
neck,  which  are  made  to  rest  perpendicularly  upon  the  spine  of 
the  back,  (see  plate  A,  figures  1,  2,  3.)  By  these  arrangements 
the  immense  weight  of  the  head  is  placed  upon  the  slender  neck, 
and  yet  safely  ;  as  it  is  contrived  that  the  head  is  supported  on 
the  perpendicular  neck  as  its  usual  position.  Now,  should  you 
carry  the  head  forward,  and  of  course  bend  the  neck,  what  re- 
sults ?  Why,  that  the  head  with  its  great  weight  is  carried  at  a 
grant  mechanical  disadvantage.  It  is  well  known  to  you  that  a 
,  post  or  column,  standing  erect  and  perfectly  perpendicular,  can 
support  a  vast  weight,  but  let  the  column  be  thrown  out  of  perpen- 
dicular, and  a  moderate  weight  will  crush  it  to  the  earth.  So 
with  the  head  standing  on  the  perpendicular  column  of  the  neck. 
In  that  position  it  is  easily  carried ;  its  weight  is  not  perceived  and 
gives  no  fatigue.  But  throw  the  head  forward  and  bend  the  neck, 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  173 

and  you  will  perceive  the  head  is  placed  on  the  top  of  a  stooping 
column,  and  is  carried  at  a  great  mechanical  disadvantage,  just 
in  proportion  as  the  stooping  takes  place,  (see  plate  F,  figure  1.) 
The  human  frame  has  the  power  of  self- reparation  and  adapta- 
tion to  altered  circumstances  in  a  wonderful  degree,  still,  the  effect 
of  carrying  forward  the  head  is  to  produce  weariness  about  the 
neck,  spine  of  the  neck,  and  muscles  of  the  back,  often  produc- 
ing pain,  and  tending,  by  its  everlasting  drain  and  wear  upon  the 
system,  to  shorten  the  duration  of  the  system  and  life.  It  requires 
five  times  the  strength  to  carry  the  head  on  a  stooping  neck  bent 
forward,  that  it  does  to  carry  it  on  a  perpendicular  neck  as  an 
usual  position.  Hence,  you  may  infer  in  continued  years,  what 
a  prodigious  drain  this  will  be  upon  the  strength  of  the  system, 
and  consequently  upon  its  duration.  Another  mischief  is  pro- 
duced :  The  spine  of  the  neck,  whilst  made  flexible  to  bend  for- 
ward and  sideways  at  will,  yet  never  was  arranged  to  have  any 
of  these  positions  permanent.  It  was  no  more  intended  that  the 
neck  should  be  bent  permanently  forward  than  to  one  side.  A 
neck  permanently  bent  to  one  side  would  be  at  once  marked  as  a 
striking  deformity  ;  yet,  as  regards  health,  it  is  no  more  injurious 
than  when  bent  forward.  The  wind-pipe,  and  gullet,  and  blood- 
vessels, and  muscles,  are  all,  both  in  length  and  position,  adapted 
to  a  strait  neck.  The  effect  of  a  crooked  neck  is  injurious  to  the 
wind-pipe.  In  symmetrical  arrangement,  the  wind-pipe  is  made 
strait  and  covered  with  stiff  hoops,  and  so  arranged  that  it  cannot 
close  together.  Up  and  down  this  open  strait  barrel,  the  air 
goes  in  a  full,  strait,  unbroken  column  ;  but  if  the  neck  is  bent, 
the  wind-pipe  is  bent  also,  and,  by  being  bent,  the  column  of  air 
is  made  crooked  and  partially  impeded  in  its  ingress  and  egress 
to  and  from  the  lungs.  In  the  former  case  the  lungs  are  badly 
filled,  and  in  the  latter  case  the  voice  is  broken  and  impaired, 
more  or  less,  so  that  every  person  who  would  expand  his  chest 
well  knows  he  must  have  his  neck  and  wind-pipe  strait,  and  every 
public  speaker  or  singer  knows,  to  have  his  voice  perfect,  his 
wind-pipe  must  be  strait.  The  neck  should  be  carried  perpen- 
dicular to  the  spine  of  the  back,  and  the  head  should  sit  grace- 
fully and  easily  upon  the  top  of  the  neck ;  in  other  words,  the 
neck  and  head  must  not  bend  forward  habitually,  if  you  would 


174  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

have  an  easy  carriage,  free  breathing,  or  healthy  throat,  back, 
&c.  The  neck,  as  Solomon  so  well  expresses  it,  should  rise 
gracefully  between  the  shoulders,  like  a  "  tower  of  ivory."  In 
still  greater  contrast  and  greater  deformity,  it  is  to  see  the  neck 
thrown  forward  and  the  shoulders  kept  strait,  as  is  seen  in  asth 
matic  or  phthisical  persons. 

SHOULDERS. 

The  next  thing  to  which  I  would  call  your  attention,  supposing 
the  head  and  neck  are  carried  well,  is  the  position  of  the  shoul- 
ders. The  shoulder-blades  should  lay  flat  against  the  back  of 
the  chest,  beside  the  spine.  The  edges  near  the  spine  must  not 
turn  up  at  all,  but  lay  perfectly  flat  against  the  ribs  at  the  back. 
(See  plate  A,  fig.  3.) 

The  collar-bones  are  shoulder-braces  and  only  occur  in  man. 
(See  plate  A,  fig.  2.)  Their  use  is  to  keep  the  shoulders  off 
the  chest  and  prevent  their  approaching  each  other.  Their 
general  course  is  strait,  but  if  greatly  pressed  upon  by' stooping, 
they  will  bend  very  much,  and  allow  the  shoulders  to  approach 
each  other,  forwards,  and  press  upon  the  chest,  pressing  the 
breast-bone  down  upon  the  heart,  and  force  the  ribs  upon  the 
lungs,  and  make  the  chest  much  smaller.  The  shoulder-blades 
then  turn  up  behind  like  wings,  whilst  the  collar-bones  are  forced 
forwards  and  downwards,  making  the  top  of  the  chest,  front  and 
back,  a  mass  of  almost  naked,,  angular  and  repulsive  wreck  of 
scraggy,  ragged  bones. 

Everybody  knows  that  the  form  of  the  bust,  by  which  term 
I  mean  the  upper  half  of  the  body,  from  the  waist,  is  that  of  a 
triangle ;  the  base  of  the  triangle  is  a  line  from  the  point  of  one 
shoulder  to  the  other.  The  smaller  part  of  the  waist  is  the  point 
or  apex  end  of  the  triangle.  The  greatest  beauty  of  the  bust 
depends  on  having  the  greatest  possible  width  from  one  shoulder 
to  the  other,  on  a  line  with  the  neck  and  shoulders,  and  both  flat 
with  the  back,  and  perpendicular  behind.  Many  ladies,  who 
have  greatly  rounded  the  shoulders  and  brought  them  forward 
and  towards  each  other,  hope  to  correct  the  fault  by  tying  or 
lacing  up  the  waist  so  that  it  shal1  be  very  small,  and  thus  re- 
store  the  lost  symmetry  and  beauty—that  is,  they  make  one 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  175 

deformity  to  6bviate  and  cure  the  bad  appearance  of  another. 
This  bad  and  dangerous  position  of  the  shoulders  has  a  most 
disastrous  effect  upon  the  chest,  contracting  it  and  making  it  too 
small,  and  injuring  the  lungs,  and  thus  laying  the  foundation  for 
thousands  of  consumptions,  besides  utterly  destroying  the  beauty 
of  the  female  form. 

When  the  shoulders  are  carried  back  as  far  as  symmetry 
requires,  the  weight  of  the  arms  and  shoulders  hangs  behind  the 
chest,  and  thus  balances  the  upper  part  of  the  person  backwards, 
instead  of  stooping  forwards,  and  so  always  expanding  the  chest, 
instead  of  contracting  it.  (See  plate  A,  fig.  1.)  By  this  the  collar- 
bones lay  flat  to  the  top  of  the  breast  above  the  ribs,  and  can 
hardly  be  seen  or  felt  at  all.  The  continued  weight  of  the 
shoulders,  arms  and  hands  falling  behind  instead  of  before  the 
chest,  drags  the  shoulders  downwards  and  backwards,  and  lifts 
up  the  breast-bone  at  its  base,  and  contributes  vastly  to  enlarge 
the  chest,  always  in  all  cases  preventing  its  contraction. 

A  great  many  ladies,  from  debility  or  bad  posture,  contract  a 
habit  of  stooping,  and  thus  bring  forward  the  weight  of  the 
shoulders  and  arms  and  hands  across  the  chest,  and  contract  it 
fearfully.  If  they  cannot  correct  this  by  any  other  means,  they 
should  tie  the  shoulders  together  behind.  This  leads  me  to 
mention 

SHOULDER-BRACES.— (See  Plate  J.) 

Shoulder-braces  are  instruments  of  very  old  date,  having  been 
used  in  England  and  France  for  hundreds  of  years.  In  all  parts 
of  Europe,  with  the  noble  and  educated  classes,  the  remarks  I  have 
made  on  the  carriage  of  the  head  and  neck  are  fully  appreciated, 
and  have  been  understood  for  ages.  Indeed,  from  observing  these 
classes,  all  my  ideas  on  these  subjects  have  been  fully  confirmed. 
In  many  boarding-schools  of  England,  it  is  a  part  of  the  education 
of  young  persons,  to  provide  that  the  shoulders,  and  carriage  of 
the  head  and  neck,  &c.,  shall  be  perfectly  erect  and  elegant. 
They  know  that  stooping  or  rounded  shoulders  are  alike  destruc- 
tive of  elegance  and  health.  Round  and  stooping  shoulders  are 
set  down  in  England  as  decidedly  vulgar,  marking  ignoble  de- 
scent, and  denoting  weakness  and  age.  The  tickets  for  admission  to 


176 LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

Plate  J. 


the  ball-room  at  Almacks',  in  London,  cost  $1.25  each,  or  five  Eng- 
lish shillings,  yet  at  any  time  five  hundred  dollars  would  be  paid 
for  one.  But  money  cannot  buy  a  ticket  at  this  aristocratic  place 
of  meeting.  Admission  for  a  lady  is  obtained  through  a  com- 
mittee  of  ladies  of  the  highest  rank,  the  object  being  to  introduce 
the  aristocratic  youth  and  beauty  of  the  empire  to  each  other, — 
to  show  off  the  finest  blood  in  the  world,  and  the  highest  breeding 
and  physical  cultivation.  The  least  approach  to  deformity  would 
be  an  insurmountable  barrier  to  the  admission  of  any  one  person, 
however  exalted  in  rank.  The  Queen  herself  would  hardly  be 
admitted,  if  she  had  deformed  shoulders.  At  the  boarding-schools, 
if  young  ladies  have  high  or  stooping  shoulders,  strong  shoulder- 
braces  are  put  on  them,  and  pass  down  the  back  behind,  outside 
the  dress,  and  a  heavy  weight  is  attached  to  it,  and  the  child  is 
placed  on  a  stool  for  some  hours  daily,  until  the  shoulders  are 
brought  into  the  required  symmetry.  They  are  worn  until  the 
disposition  to  stoop  is  entirely  overcome,  and  a  perfect  figure  and 
carriage  are  fully  established.  Shoulder-braces  are  universally 
worn  by  all  classes  that  desire  fine  figures,  or  the  rewards  of 
them.  The  officers  of  the  army  cultivate  in  themselves,  and  in 
their  men,  the  finest  figures,  and  perfect  position  of  the  shoulders. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  177 

They  all  wear  shoulder-braces,  more  or  less.  The  soldiers  also 
wear  them  until  the  form  is  perfect.  From  the  nobility  and  higher 
classes,  and  from  the  army,  a  taste  for  a  fine  figure  and  perfect 
position  of  the  shoulders  is  diffused  throughout  all  classes,  both  as 
a  matter  of  taste,  and  as  the  very  key  to  health  and  beauty.  The 
effect  of  all  manual  labor,  is,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to 
throw  the  shoulders  and  arms  upon  the  chest  ;  and  from  this 
results  one-half  the  fatigue  of  manual  labor.  With  a  vast  many 
the  habit  of  stooping  at  labor  is  extended  to  periods  of  walking 
and  sitting  ;  and,  finally,  at  all  times,  save  in  bed,  the  weight  of 
the  shoulders  and  arms  is  forced  upon  the  chest  ;  and  thus  the 
individual  always  carries  a  pack  upon  his  back,  and  exactly  the 
same  effects  are  produced,  as  if  a  person  were  always  to  carry  a 
burden  equal  in  weight  to  the  hands,  arms,  and  shoulders,  upon 
the  back.  Back-ache,  pains  between  the  shoulders,  pains  in  the 
n^ck  and  spine,  heat  between  the  shoulders,  are  the  frequent 
effects  of  bringing  the  shoulders  forward.  The  occupation  of 
many  persons  requires  them  to  use  one  arm  more  than  the  other. 
This,  long  continued,  is  apt  to  make  the  shoulder  of  that  arm  weak, 
and  to  displace  the  shoulder-blade,  causing  it  to  grow  out,  and  its 
inner  edge  to  lift  up  like  a  wing,  and  in  a  vast  many  cases  to 
change  the  spine  to  one  side,  and  bulging  out  the  chest,  and  shrink- 
ing it  in,  in  some  places,  thus  producing  great  deformity  and 
disease.  Nearly  every  case  of  crooked  spine  between  the 
shoulders  arises  from  this  cause  ;  that  is,  the  weight  of  the  shoul- 
der most  used  drags  the  spine  out  of  strait,  or  to  one  side.  Now 
the  cure  of  all  this  is  to  wear  shoulder- braces.  Tie  the  shoulders 
together,  and  they  will  revolve  around  the  chest,  but  cannot  press 
on  it,  or  crook  the  spine. 

Perfect  symmetry  of  the  figure  requires  that  the  points  of  the 
shoulders  should  be  carried  downwards  and  backwards  as  far  as 
possible,  by  which  arrangement  their  points  recede  from  each 
other  as  far  as  possible,  and  the  shoulder-blades  lay  fiat  upon  the 
back.  (See  plate  A,  fig.  1,  and  plate  K.)  To  produce  this  posi- 
tion of  the  shoulders,  it  is  necessary  that  the  whole  length  of  the 
spine  should  be  perfectly  supported,  and  therefore  the  small  of 
the  back  is  the  first  point  to  be  supported.  (See  plate  J.)  Having 
established  my  support  there,  I  then  carry  the  brace  up  the  back, 
8* 


178  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


between  and  around  the  shoulders,  by  which  I  bring  them  down- 
wards and  backwards  at  pleasure.  The  foundation  pieces  at  the 
small  of  the  back  and  between  the  shoulders,  should  be  elastic, 
and  are  made  of  India  rubber  stuff.  Great  care  should  be  taken 
to  cover  the  spine  as  little  as  possible  with  the  rubber  stuff,  as  the 
spine  may  be  kept  too  warm  and  weakened  by  it.  Some  braces 
are  made  so  that  the  rubber  stuff  covers  the  whole  spine.  I  made 
them  in  that  way  until  fully  convinced  of  their  injurious  effects. 
The  spine  must  not  be  wholly  covered  with  any  thing  that  can 
prevent  free  evaporation  and  airing  of  the  spine.  The  India  rub- 
ber stuff  on  the  whole  spine  will  keep  the  spine  wet  with  perspi- 
ration, and  greatly  weaken  it.  Such  braces  should  never  be  worn. 
The  pieces  of  the  shoulder-braces  between  the  shoulders  should 
be  elastic  and  allow  full  movements  of  the  shoulders,  and  not 
confine  the  ball  of  the  shoulder  or  arm,  so  that  a  free  movement 
is  permitted,  and,  on  resting,  the  shoulders  will  at  once  be  brought 
back  by  the  elasticity  of  the  stuffs  to  their  places.  The  piece  on 
the  loins  should  be  elastic,  so  as  to  allow  free  motion  of  the  whole 
person,  if  desired.  A  great  many  persons,  especially  those  with 
light  chests,  and  whose  shoulders  are  very  flexible,  and  move 
easily,  cannot  do  much  with  their  arms  or  hands,  not  sweep  a 
carpet,  or  do  any  manual  labor,  neither  work,  write,  or  study 
long,  &c..  without  having  pain  in  the  chest,  or  in  the  side,  one  or 
both.  These  pains  often  extend  to  both  arms,  even  to  the  ends  of 
the  fingers,  and  pain  down  the  whole  spine,  and  great  weariness 
at  the  top  of  the  chest  and  between  the  shoulders,  and  heat  about 
the  shoulders,  pains  under  the  shoulder-blades,  &c.  Such  persons 
will  find  the  shoulder-blades,  if  adjusted  and  made  as  I  have  de- 
scribed, a  vast  benefit,  and  in  most  cases  a  perfect  cure.  The  use 
of  perfectly  adjusted  shoulder-braces  will  enable  them  to  do  ten 
times  the  work  they  could  perform  without  them.  Every  female 
employed  in  any  and  all  manufactories,  especially  if  she  has  in  the 
least  a  constrained  position*  should  wear  shoulder-braces.  Girls  at 
school,  and  young  ladies,  as  long  as  at  school,  should  wear  shoulder- 
braces.  In  fine,  every  lady,  whose  shoulders  are  not  always  per- 
fectly in  symmetry,  should  wear  stupider-braces.  If  the  least  con- 
sumptive,  or  consumptively  disposed,  she  should  wear  shoulder- 
braces  ;  they  greatly  assist  in  expanding  the  chest ;  prevent  curva- 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  179 

ture  of  the  spine,  and  assist  much  in  curing  it,  and  preventing  its 
progress  after  it  is  present.  They  give  symmetry  to  the  back  and 
shoulders,  do  much  to  prevent  stooping,  and  almost  double  the 
strength  of  the  sh'oulders,  giving  the  wearer  the  ability  to  do  twice 
as  much  with  her  arms  and  shoulders  as  she  otherwise  could. 
They  perfectly  prevent  the  straining  of  the  shoulders  or  back,  or 
chest.  I  never  attempt  to  cure  consumption  without  the  use  of 
shoulder-braces.  Shoulder-braces  should  be  sufficiently  strong, 
and  as  light  and  elegant  as  possible. 

CHEST. 

Supposing  the  neck  and  shoulders  to  be  all  in  symmetry,  as 
before  directed  and  described,  our  next  step,  in  the  formation  of 
perfect  symmetry,  is  to  develope  a  large,  round,  erect,  and  per- 
fect chest  (see  plate  A,  figure  1.)  A  perfect  and  noble  chest  is 
the  grand  basis  of  all  good  health.  The  lungs,  to  ensure  good 
health  in  them,  and  everywhere,  must  be  large,  and  perfectly  ex- 
panded in  every  part.  Every  air-cell  must  be  fully  stretched 
open,  if  possible,  at  every  breath,  and,  at  any  rate,  daily.  The 
lungs  cannot  be  perfectly  expanded,  when  the  chest  is  in  any  way 
contracted  around  them.  In  a  perfect  chest,  the  spine,  from  the 
root  of  the  neck  to  the  bottom  of  the  waist,  is  placed  stooping 
backwards  ;  rising  from  the  bottom  of  the  waist  to  the  root  of  the 
neck,  it  inclines  a  little  backwards  of  a  perpendicular  line,  and 
tloes  not,  in  a  perfect  chest,  crook  at  all  forwards.  The  chest,  I 
have  told  you,  is  a  basket  of  bones,  open  at  the  bottom  (see  plate 
B.)  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  in  forming  a  fine  chest,  that 
the  bottom  of  the  chest  should  be  as  open  and  wide  as  possible, 
and  that  the  breast-bone,  at  the  bottom,  should  be  lifted  outwards,  as 
much  as  possible,  and  not  depressed  inwards,  or  crowded  towards 
the  back-bone  at  all.  To  form  a  fine  and  perfect  chest,  after  the 
shoulders  are  fully  in  their  places,  all  that  is  required  is,  to 
breathe  properly,  and  carry  the  person  well.  Much  has  been 
said  and  written  upon  diet,  eating  and  drinking ;  but  I  do  not  re- 
collect ever  noticing  a  remark  in  any  writer  upon  breathing,  or 
the  manner  of  breathing.  Multitudes,  and  especially  ladies  in 
easy  circumstances,  contract  a  vicious  and  destructive  mode  of 
breathing.  They  suppress  their  breathing,  and  contract  the  habit 


180  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

of  short,  quick  breathing,  not  carrying  the  breath  half-way  down 
the  chest,  and  scarcely  expanding  the  lower  portions  of  the  chest 
at  all.  Lacing  the  bottom  of  the  chest  also  greatly  increases  this 
evil,  and  confirms  a  bad  habit  of  breathing.  Children  that  move 
about  a  great  deal  in  the  open  air,  and  are  in  no  way  laced, 
breathe  deep  and  full  to  the  bottom  of  the  chest,  and  every  part 
f  it ;  so  also  with  most  out-door  laborers,  and  persons  who  take 
a  great  deal  of  exercise  in  the  open  air,  because,  as  I  said  before, 
the  lungs  give  us  the  power  of  action ;  and  the  more  exercise 
we  take,  especially  out  of  doors,  or  hard  labor  in  the  open  air, 
the  larger  the  lungs  become,  and  the  less  liable  to  disease.  But 
those  in  easy  circumstances,  or  who  pursue  sedentary  employ, 
ments  within  doors,  generally  use  their  lungs  but  very  little, — 
breathe  very  little  air  into  the  chest,  and  thus,  independently  of 
bad  positions,  contract  a  wretchedly  narrow,  small  chest,  and  lay 
the  foundation  for  the  loss  of  all  health  and  beauty*  All  this  can 
be  perfectly  obviated,  by  a  little  attention  to  the  manner  of 
breathing.  Recollect,  the  lungs  are  like  a  bladder  in  their  struc- 
ture, and  can  be  stretched  open  to  double  their  ordinary  size  with 
perfect  safety,  giving  a  noble  chest,  and  perfect  immunity  from 
consumption.  The  agent,  and  all  the  agent  required  to  expand 
the  chest,  is  the  common  air  we  breathe ;  supposing,  however, 
that  no  obstacles  exist  external  to  the  chest,  such  as  lacing,  or  ty- 
ing it  around,  with  stays  or  tight  dresses,  or  having  the  shoulders 
lay  upon  it,  as  I  have  before  described.  On  rising  from  bed  in 
the  morning,  place  yourself  in  an  erect  posture,  your  chest 
thrown  back,  and  shoulders  entirely  off  the  chest ;  now  inhale 
or  suck  in  all  the  air  you  can,  so  as  to  fill  the  chest  to  the  very 
bottom  of  it,  so  that  no  more  air  can  be  got  in  ;  now  hold  your 
breath,  and  throw  your  arms  and  shoulders  behind  you,  as  if 
you  would  throw  them  off  behind,  holding  in  your  breath  as  long 
as  you  can ;  again  fill  your  chest,  and  walk  about,  holding  in 
your  breath  as  long  as  possible.  Repeat  these  long  breaths  as 
many  times  as  you  please  ;  done  in  a  cold  room  is  much  better, 
because  the  air  is  heavier  and  denser,  and  will  act  much  more 
powerfully  in  expanding  the  chest.  Always,  when  stretching 
open  the  chest  with  air,  throw  the  head  back,  so  as  to  lift  up  the 
breast-bone,  and  bend  the  whole  bust  backwards  from  the  waist 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  181 


You  rnay,  in  this  manner,  expand  the  chest  a  thousand  times  a 
day,  if  you  please.  On  going  out-doors  into  cold  air,  inhale  or 
suck  in  all  the  air  you  can,  and  hold  it  in  as  long  as  possible ; 
stand  or  sit  perfectly  erect,  whilst  walking  or  riding  in  the  street, 
along  the  roads,  in  the  fields,  or  gardens.  Practice  this  mode  of 
expanding  the  chest.  Do  not  stoop  forward  at  all,  but  suck  in  all  the 
air  you  can,  throwing  the  head  and  neck  backwards,  and  hold 
in  the  air  as  long  as  possible.  By  this  exercise,  you  will  often  at 
once  check  a  cough,  or  disposition  to  cough.  The  chest  may 
also  be  fully  expanded  whilst  lying  in  bed.  By  exercising  the 
chest  in  this  manner,  it  will  soon  become  very  flexible  and  ex- 
pansible, and  will  enlarge  its  capacity  and  the  size  of  the  lungs, 
so  as,  in  a  few  weeks  or  months,  to  hold  double  its  usual  quan- 
tity of  air,  whilst,  externally,  it  will  measure  from  one  to  six 
inches  larger  in  its  circumference.  Should  you  not  have  full 
strength  to  enlarge  the  chest  in  this  way,  then  use  an  inhaling 
tube,  such  as  I  have  delineated  in  plate  G.  The  inhaling  tube 
will  greatly  assist  you  in  expanding  the  chest,  if  you  are  weak 
or  not.  The  chest  should  be  treated  in  this 'way  during^  your 
whole  lives.  Should  you  become  invalids,  from  any  cause,  keep 
your  chests  expanded  by  long  breaths  and  the  inhaling  tube,  and 
continue  to  breathe  a  little  cold  fresh  air  daily,  by  having  it 
drawn  from  out  of  doors,  by  leather  or  tin  pipes,  or  in  any  other 
manner  you  please. 

BAD  CONSEQUENCES  FROM  USING  THE  INHALING 
TUBE,  AND  EXPANDING  THE  CHEST. 

Some  timid  patients  and  advisers  may  suggest  the  idea 
of  injury  from  this  exercise,  but  you  need  give  yourself  no  un- 
easiness whatever  on  the  subject.  You  cannot  injure  yourselves. 
Only  commence  gradually  until  the  lungs,  air-pipes,  and  air-cells 
are  well  open  and  expanded,  and,  ever  after,  you  need  fear  no  bad 
consequences  from  expanding  your  chests  with  all  the  air  and 
strength  in  your  power.  The  effect  of  theso  means  will  be  to 
.  make  the  chest  flat  behind,  and  in  front,  as  full  and  round,  and 
lifted  up,  as  the  breast  of  the  swan.  All  the  ravishing  attrac- 
tions of  the  chest,  and  an  exquisitely  lovely  bust,  will  soon  be  fully 
yours ;  the  collar-bones  will  soon  entirely  disappear,  the  chest 


182 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY 


will  become  round,  and  wide  at  the  top  ;  the  front  of  .the  chest 
will  rise  up  and  be  developed  in  its  greatest  fulness.  No  art  or 
padding  will  be  required  to  perfect  the  figure,  but  free,  matchless, 
and  unrivalled  beauty  will  adorn  your  chest,  and  at  once  give  a 
noble  grace  and  dignity  to  your  persons,  and  the  exceeding  gra- 
tification of  a  perfectly  healthy  chest  and  lungs.  Your  gratifi- 
cation will  hardly  be  alloyed  by  one  cough,  or  a  tinge  of  pain,  or 
unpleasant  feeling  in  the  chest,  for  a  long  life. 

POSITION  OF  THE  CHEST. 

Whilst  forming  a  fine  chest,  and  after  it  is  formed,  great  care 
is  requisite  to  establish  perfectly  correct  positions,  so  that  the 
chest  shall  not  be  contracted,  and  all  your  efforts  counteracted 
by  bad  positions.  If  your  positions  are  habitually  bad  in  spite 
of  all  you  can  otherwise  do,  the  chest  will  be  more  or  less  con- 
tracted, (soe  plate  K.)  The  rule  with  you  should  be,  and  the 
rule  of  health  is,  to  keep  the  bottom  of  the  chest,  the  ends  of  the 
short  ribs,  and  the  lower  end  of  the  breast-bone,  as  far  out  from 
the  back  bone  as  possible.  To  effect  this,  the  chest  must  be  kept 
perfectly  strait,  and  thrown  a  little  backwards  from  the  waist,  at 
all  times,  (see  plate  A,  figure  1.) 

HABITUAL  STOOPING  SHOULD  BE  AVOIDED. 
Plate  K. 


The  small  of  the  back  is  made  flexible,  but  the  hip  joints  are 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  183 


the  points  from  which  to  stoop  either  backward  or  forward.  These 
joints  are  ball-and-socket  joints,  like  a  swivel  in  some  degree. 
The  trunk  of  the  body  may  bend  forward  as  much  as  you  please, 
for  all  useful  purposes,  and  the  chest,  and  whole  spine,  and  neck, 
be  kept  perfectly  strait.  Hence,  no  lady  should  ever  make  a 
table  of  her  lap,  either  for  sewing,  reading  or  writing,  or  any  oc- 
cupation whatever,  (as  you  see  in  plate  K.)  Let  all  these,  and 
all  work  you  do,  be  arranged  on  a  table  before  you,  and  that  ta- 
ble bo  raised  to  the  arm-pits,  or  as  high  as  possible,  so  as  to  keep 
the  chest  strait.  A  little  practice  will  make  this  infinitely  more 
agreeable  than  to  stoop,  whilst  little  or  no  fatigue  will  be  expe- 
rienced at  your  occupations,  compared  to  what  is  experienced 
whilst  stooping,  or  from  habitually  stooping.  The  weight  of  the 
shoulders  will  thus  be  kept  off  the  chest,  which  is  one  of  the  grand 
causes  of  fatigue  from  manual  labor.  You  will  thus  entirely 
prevent  the  mark  of  servitude  being  impressed  upon  your  persons, 
in  a  pair  of  round  stooping  shoulders,  and  flat  contracted  chest. 

SITTING  POSITION. 

Nearly  all  the  American  people  sit  badly.  Whilst  sitting,  and 
trie  person  in  repose,  the  chest  should  be  kept  up,  the  shoulders 
thrown  back,  and  the  person  strait.  This  position,  by  habit, 
will  be  found  to  give  the  greater  relief  from  fatigue,  and  be  far 
more  agreeable  than  to  stoop  while  sitting.  Most  persons  in  this 
country,  on  placing  themselves  in  a  chair,  bring  the  shoulders 
forward  on  the  chest,  and  bend  the  whole  spine,  from  the  head  to 
its  lower  end,  forward,  approaching,  more  or  less,  the  figure  of  a 
hoop.  (See  plate  K.)  The  effect  of  this  is  to  produce  a  truly 
vulgar  figure,  round  shoulders,  crooked  person ;  even  the  bones 
of  the  lower  end  of  the  trunk  of  the  body,  by  this  wretched  position, 
if  long  practised,  lose  their  symmetry,  and  are  bent  forward,  ana 
contract  the  basket  of  the  hips,  or,  as  anatomists  term  it,  the  pelvis. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  a  vast  many  ladies  have  lost  their  lives  by 
thus  contracting  the  basket  of  the  hips,  and  bending  inwards  the 
lower  end  of  the  spine,  so  that  no  space  or  little  is  left  for  the 
greatest  office  the  female  can  ever  accomplish.  No  person  will 
sit  badly,  unless  from  extreme  indolence  or  ignorance,  of  its  most 
injurious  effects. 


184  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

Let  me  say  to  you,  ladies,  who  have  daughters  or  young  girls 
under  your  care — follow  them  to  school,  and  at  any  cost  or  sacri- 
fice, insist  upon  it  that  the  seats  for  your  little  girls  shall  be  easy, 
and  that  they  shall  sit  at  a  table  to  study,  write,  &c. ;  and  this 
table  be  so  high  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  stoop  at  all. 
If  the  table  is  made  as  high  as  the  arm-pits,  and  the  child  sits  near 
to  it,  the  chest  will  not  be  contracted,  but  will  be  expanded  by 
studying  or  writing  at  such  a  table.  To  write,  one  inch  below 
the  arm-pits  will  be  found  fully  as  low  as  is  necessary,  and  habit 
and  practice  will  very  soon  cause  the  child  to  greatly  prefer  a 
high  to  a  low  desk.  The  child  should  not  sit  sideways,  but  per- 
fectly  fronting  her  desk  or  table.  The  caution  to  have  girls  sit 
square  in  front  of  the  table  is  very  important,  for  if  they  sit  side- 
ways to  the  table,  the  effect  usually  is,  or  in  a  great  many  cases, 
to  lift  up  one  shoulder  higher  than  the  other,  and  to  bend  their 
spine  either  between  the  shoulders,  or  in  the  small  of  the  back. 
I  have  observed  this  effect  in  a  multitude  of  cases,  from  five  years 
old  to  thirty  years.  Bad  position  is  the  parent  of  nearly  all  de- 
formities of  the  trunk  of  the  body,  either  of  the  spine,  the  shoul- 
ders, the  hips1,  or  the  ribs. 

In  all  occupations  that  require  you  to  stand,  keep  the  person 
strait.  If  at  table,  let  it  be  high,  raised  up  nearly  to  the  arm-pits, 
so  as  not  to  require  you  to  stoop ;  you  will  find  the  employment 
much  easier, — not  one-half  the  fatigue;  whilst  the  form  of  the 
chest,  and  the  symmetry  of  the  figure,  will  remain  perfect.  You 
have  noticed  that  a  vast  many  tall  ladies  stoop,  whilst  a  great 
many  short  ones  are  strait.  This  arises,  I  think,  from  the  tables 
at  which  we  sit  or  work,  or  occupy  ourselves,  or  study,  being  of 
a  medium  height,  far  too  low  for  the  tall  person,  and  about  right 
for  the  short  person.  This  should  be  carefully  regarded  and  cor- 
rected, so  that  each  lady  may  occupy  herself  at  a  table  suited  to 
her,  and  thus  prevent  the  possibility  or  necessity  of  stooping. 
+ 

POSITION  OF  THE  CHEST  IN  WALKING. 

I  have  already  occupied  you  a  long  time  upon  the  position  of 
tne  chest,  and  will  still  occupy  you  with  a  few  words  upon  the 
position  of  the  chest  in  walking.  An  elegant  carnage  of  the  per- 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  185 

son  in  walking  is  indispensable  to  health  and  beauty,  and  that 
graceful  elegance  of  figure,  of  which  the  person  is  fully  capable. 
It  was  the  fashion  forty  years  ago  for  ladies  to  walk  with  great 
grace,  and  perfectly  erect,  without  any  stoop.  A  few  years  ago 
some  of  our  tourists  and  ladies  took  part  in  it,  having  seen  the 
Venus  of  Medicis  at  Florence,  in  Italy  ;  her  position  being  stoop, 
ing,  conceived  the  fine  idea  that  a  stooping  position  in  walking  or 
standing  was  the  very  acme — the  highest  point  of  elegance  and 
grace.  This  stoop  was  called  the  Grecian  bend.  The  statue  of 
the  Venus  of  Medicis  at  Florence,  in  Italy,  which  I  have  often 
seen,  and  admired,  is  that  of  a  lady  entirely  naked  ;  just  having 
left  the  bath,  her  person  gracefully  inclining,  or  stooping  for- 
ward,  she  extends  her  hand  for  her  robe.  This  position — the  acme 
of  grace  in  a  lady  uncovered — was  never  intended  to  represent 
for  one  instant  a  lady  dressed.  To  prove  this,  you  have  only  to 
look  at  the  forms  of  the  females  as  they  are  carved  and  painted 
in  the  processions  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  ladies — funeral,  reli- 
gious, and  triumphal  processions,  &c.  At  Saratoga  Springs,  two 
or  three  years  ago,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  noticing  this  most 
wretched  posture  in  walking.  In  the  large  parlor  of  a  large  and 
fashionable  hotel,  were  a  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen.  The 
ladies  generally  assumed  the  Grecian  bend,  the  shoulders  and 
chest  thrown  forward,  stooping  from  the  small  of  the  back; — a  po- 
sition at  once  indicating  weakness  and  deformity.  In  striking 
contrast  to  this  were  the  figures,  the  carriage,  the  step,  of  two 
young  ladies,  daughters  of  an  English  gentleman,  but  an  Ame- 
rican mother,  and  born  and  raised  in  Connecticut.  Their  chests 
were  fully  developed,  and  their  persons  perfectly  erect  and  strait. 
They  attracted  the  notice  of  all.  They  must  have  been  greatly 
obliged  to  the  other  ladies  for  so  strikingly  netting  off  their  figures 
and  carriage,  by  the  miserable  positions  they  had  assumed,  unless, 
what  was  most  probable,  the  artless  and  unsophisticated  minds  of 
the  young  ladies  forebore  drawing  comparisons  unfavorable  to 
their  companions,  and  favorable  to  themselves. 

I  hardly  need  say  that  the  same  rules  apply  to  standing  and 
walking,  as  in  sitting,  to  keep  the  person  strait,  the  shoulders 
completely  off  the  chest,  the  chest  thrown  out,  head  and  neck 
perpendicular  to  the  spine,  but  easy  in  its  motion  and  flexible, 


186  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

the  weight  of  the  arms  and  shoulders  entirely  falling  behind  the 
chest.  The  step  elastic  and  buoyant,  and  not  mincing  or  affected 
or  stiff.  If  the  least  stoop  is  permitted,  let  it  be  from  the  hip. 
joints,  and  not  from  the  waist  or  shoulders. 

POSITION  OF  THE  CHEST  IN  BED. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  all  beds  should  be  rather  hard,  such  a* 
can  be  made  from  a  hair  mattress,  husks  or  shucks  of  corn,  straw 
finely  cut  up,  cotton,  &c.  I  think  these  far  better  than  down  or 
feathers  ;  being  better  ventilated,  they  do  not  so  much  confine  the 
heat  of  the  body,  and  better  promote  the  circulation  of  the  blood, 
and  do  not  effeminate  as  feathers  and  down  invariably  do.  The 
position  of  the  chest  and  person  should  be  flat,  laying  on  the  back 
as  much  as  possible ;  indeed,  this  should  be  the  habitual  position 
in  bed,  the  head  very  low,  or  level  with  the  body,  so  that  the 
spine  is  kept  strait.  This  position,  if  early  adopted,  will  be  found, 
as  a  general  rule,  far  more  salutary  than  to  bolster  up  much 
under  the  head  and  shoulders,  especially  on  a  soft  bed.  The 
practice  of  sleeping  on  a  soft  bed,  with  the  head  and  shoulders 
high,  will,  in  itself,  make  you  crooked,  and  greatly  contract  the 
base  of  the  chest.  You  should  notice  the  position  of  your 
daughters  in  bed.  They  should  never  sleep  always  on  one  side, 
as  this  throws  the  lungs,  heart,  liver,  stomach  and  bowels,  out  of 
symmetry,  and  often  causes  disease, 

STANDING  ON  ONE  FOOT. 

Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  see  ladies  larely  stand 
erect  on  both  feet,  but  rest  first  on  one  foot  and  then  on  the  other. 
This,  besides  being  most  ungraceful,  is  often  productive  of  de- 
formity. I  was  lately  consulted  by  a  lady  on  behalf  of  her 
daughter,  who  had  one  hip  much  larger  than  the  other,  so  as  to 
be  a  great  deformity,  and  caused  entirely  by  standing  very  much 
on  one  foot.  The  liip  of  the  same  side  on  the  foot  of  which  she 
most  rests,  is  soon  thrown  out,  and  the  other  hip  drawn  in.  This, 
in  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  becomes  permanent,  and  produces  an 
irreparable  deformity  of  the  hip,  and  often  curvature  of  the  spine, 
and  derangement  of  symmetry  throughout  nearly  the  whole 
person. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  187 

TIGHT  LACING. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  and  written  against  the  habit  of 
tight  lacing,  or  tying  up  the  waist,  so  as  to  make  it  very  small. 
You  will  notice,  by  recalling  what  I  have  said,  how  pernicious 
and  destructive  lacing  the  chest  must  be  to  the  lungs,  the  heart, 
the  liver,  and  large  bowels.  It  produces  a  broken  constitution, 
and  almost  certain  death  to  any  or  all  who  practise  it.  It  is 
utterly  subversive  of  symmetry,  and  is,  in  every  point  of  view, 
decidedly  vulgar.  No  person  is  now  known  to  practise  it,  save 
the  ignorant  and  the  would-be  fine  and  genteel.  It  must  not  be 
practised  if  you  would  have  health,  elegance,  or  symmetry  of 
person.  But,  as  I  have  told  you  in  speaking  of  the  shoulders, 
widen  them,  and  make  the  top  of  the  chest  wide,  and  the  symme- 
try of  the  waist  will  be  perfect  without  contracting  its  dimensions 
by  lacing.  It  is  murder  in  a  parent  to  lace  tightly  the  waist  of 
a  female  child. 

Allow  me,  ladies,  to  exhort  you  to  study  symmetry  of  person, 
as  a  great  science,  and  achieve  it  in  each  one  of  you,  at  any 
sacrifice  of  temporary  ease,  indulgence,  or  long-formed  habit. 
Without  perfect  symmetry,  you  cannot  have  perfect  beauty  and 
elegance,  and  rarely  health  and  long  life. 

HOW  TO  FORM  A  CLEAR  AND  BEAUTIFUL 
COMPLEXION. 

Supposing  the  symmetry  of  the  head,  neck,  shoulders,  spine, 
chest,  waist,  and  all  your  person,  to  be  perfect  and  unexception- 
able, it  is  necessary  to  perfect  beauty,  and  a  consequence  of 
perfect  health,  that  you  have  a  clear,  beautiful  complexion, — that 
the  lily  and  the  rose  God  has  painted  upon  you  should  be  de- 
veloped in  its  full  perfection,  and  preserved  untarnished  and 
undiminished.  To  enable  you  to  understand  the  art  of  doing 
this,  I  must  give  you  some  account  of  our  food,  and  those  pro- 
cesses of  Nature  by  which  parts  of  it  become  nourishing  to  us, 
and  other  parts  of  it  useless,  and  are  rejected  from  the  system. 

THE  TEETH. 

The  first  of  that  series  of  processes  by  which  the  food  is  made 
to  nourish  and  replenish  the  waste  of  the  human  machine,  after 


188  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

the  cook,  or  Nature,  has  prepared  our  food,  is  to  masticate  it, — 
to  chew  it  well.  This  cannot  be  done  without  good  teeth,  which 
leads  me  to  speak  of  the  teeth  in  connection  with  health  and  beauty. 
Beauty  of  the  face  depends  on  regular  symmetrical  features,  and 
three  brilliants, — brilliant  eyes,  brilliant  complexion,  brilliant 
teeth.  Each  of  these  brilliants  are  reflections  of  the  health,  the 
taste,  and  the  neatness  of  their  possessors.  No  lady  can  be  beau- 
tiful, or  long  healthy,  with  bad  teeth.  The  food,  in  order  to  a 
healthy  digestion,  should  be  rather  slowly  eaten,  and  well 
chewed  ;  but  if  the  teeth  are  decidedly  defective,  or  decayed,  or 
both,  mastication  becomes  imperfect  and  painful,  and  dyspepsia 
follows, — more  or  less,  a  natural  consequence.  As  a  point  of 
beauty,  the  mouth  is  a  very  striking  feature.  The  teeth,  in  per- 
fection, and  beautiful  and  appropriate  in  their  forms,  and  all  in 
place,  present  two  perfect  rows,  one  on  each  jaw,  of  a  brilliant 
and  exquisite  pearly  lustre.  They  become,  when  the  counte- 
nance is  animated  in  conversation,  or  enlivened  by  smiles,  a  con- 
stant source  of  delight  to  the  beholder.  But,  should  the  teeth  be 
discolored,  irregular,  defective,  or  wanting,  they  become  at  once 
a  source  of  aversion  and  great  disgust  to  the  observer.  With 
beautiful  and  perfect  teeth,  the  smile  of  a  lady  is  irresistible ; 
should  it  be  otherways,  her  laugh  is  a  grotesque  caricature,  ex- 
citing pity  and  aversion.  You  cannot  possess  attraction  with 
tarnished  and  bad  teeth.  Such  teeth  destroy  the  purity  of  the 
breath,  and  shorten  life. 

I  am  proud  to  say,  no  country  can  boast  better  or  more  intel- 
ligent dentists  than  our  own.  In  all  of  our  larger  towns,  and 
most  smaller  towns,  good  dentists  are  to  be  found.  The  care  of 
your  teeth,  and  those  of  your  children,  should  engage  your  con- 
stant attention,  aided  by  the  advice  and  assistance  of  the  best 
dentists.  If  the  teeth  are  defective,  they  should  be  repaired  ;  if 
not  capable  of  repair,  their  places  should  be  supplied  by  artificial 
ones.  Irregularity  should  be  seasonably  corrected.  A  good 
dentifrice  should  be  used  ;  at  any  rate,  each  day,  a  brush  and 
pure  cold  water  should  be  freely  applied  to  them.  Acids  tarnish 
their  lustre,  and  should  be  carefully  avoided.  With  beautiful, 
regular,  perfect,  and  clean  teeth,  the  countenance  of  no  lady  can 
be  repulsive,  la  repose,  should  her  features  not  be  strikingly 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  189 


prepossessing,  let  her  smile,  and  at  once  she  receives  attention 
and  admiration. 

DIGESTION. 

The  food  that  is  more  or  less  solid  we  chew,  and  then  swallow 
it.  It  passes  through  a  kind  of  fleshy  hose,  or  flexible  pipe,  which 
goes  down  the  neck  behind  the  wind-pipe,  and  is  called  the  gullet. 
(See  plate  E,  fig.  2.)  It  passes  behind  the  wind-pipe,  and  behind 
the  heart,  through  the  chest,  into  the  abdomen,  and  terminates  in 
a  bag,  which  holds  from  one  pint  to  two  quarts.  (See  plates  N 
and  O.)  This  bag  is  the  stomach.  The  food  and  drink  remain 
in  a  healthy  stomach  from  three  minutes  to  four  hours.  During 
this  period,  by  the  action  of  the  stomach  and  its  juices,  the  food 
is  softened  to  a  consistency  like  cream,  when  it  passes  out  of  the 
stomach  into  the  bowels.  A  fter  it  has  entered  the  bowels  a  few 
inches,  it  is  joined  by  the  bile,  which  is  a  bitter  soap,  that  unites 
with  the  food,  assisting  to  complete  its  digestion,  and  facilitating 
its  passage  through  the  bowels.  The  fluid  and  digested  food  now 
pass  rapidly  along  the  small  bowels.  (See  plate  C.)  These 
small  bowels  are  about  25  feet  long, — that  is,  almost  twelve  times 
as  long  as  the  usual  length  of  the  trunk  of  the  body.  Whilst  the 
food  is  in  these  bowels,  it  is  rapidly  drained  of  all  those  parts  of 
it  that  are  fit  for  nourishment,  or  can  enter  the  blood,  the 
coarse  portions  remain,  and  are  hurried  along  to  the  termination 
of  the  small  bowels.  These  bowels  end  at  the  right  groin,  in  the 
large  bowel.  This  large  bowel — (see  plate  C) — commences  in 
the  right  groin,  and  advances  upward  to  the  right  waist,  under 
the  lower  edge  of  the  liver  ;  it  then  turns  from  the  right  to  the 
left,  under  or  against  the  lower  edge  of  the  stomach,  across  the 
person,  from  the  right  to  the  left  waist,  when  it  turns  downwards, 
along  the  left  groin.  At  the  bottom  of  the  groin  it  passes  to  the 
right,  as  far  as  the  back-bone,  to  which  it  is  tied.  It  now  becomes 
strait,  and  keeping  along  the  back-bone,  it  passes  directly  down- 
wards out  of  the  body,  forming  the  back  passage  through  the  bas- 
ket of  the  hips.  The  large  bowel  is  almost  five  feet  long,  so  that 
the  food,  from  its  first  entrance  into  the  mouth,  to  its  final  exit 
from  the  body,  passes  nearly  32  feet  along  a  continuous  canal,  or 
pipe.  The  large  bowel,  as  a  common  rule,  and  the  stomach, 


190  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

in  its  general  effect,  in  fulfilment  of  their  functions,  exert  a  most 
important  influence  upon  the  complexion,  and  upon  the  general 
health.  This  makes  it  necessary  for  me  to  say  a  few  words  upon 
each  of  these  ;  and,  first,  upon 

THE  STOMACH. 
Plate  N. 


It  is  the  important  office  of  the  stomach  to  digest  the  food,  and 
prepare  it  to  enter  the  blood,  and  give  nourishment  to  the  body, 
and  furnish  materials  to  repair  the  daily  waste  of  the  system. 
With  the  healthy  action  of  the  stomach,  the  health  of  every  per- 
son is  intimately  connected.  Without  good  digestion,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  have  health  in  perfection.  The  health  is  usually  injured 
in  proportion  as  digestion  is  imperfect,  until,  if  digestion  ceases 
for  a  short  time,  death  ensues.  I  have  before  told  you,  that  in 
good  digestion,  and  a  healthy  condition  of  the  stomach,  the  food, 
depending  on  its  character,  its  quantity,  and  condition,  is  digested 
in  from  three  minutes  to  four  hours.  Should  the  stomach  be  dis- 
eased, or  weak,  and  unable  to  perform  its  natural  duties,  the  food 
may  remain  in  the  stomach  three  months.  I  have  known  two 
perfectly  authenticated  cases,  where  some  portions  of  the  food 
remained  in  the  stomach,  in  one  case  twelve  weeks,  and  in  the  other 
forty-six  days;  and  was  in  both  cases  vomited  up,  but  little 
changed.  This  disturbed  state  of  the  stomach,  by  which  it  digests 
food  imperfectly,  is  painfully  known  to  thousands  under  the 
name  of 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  191 


DYSPEPSIA. 

This  is  known  to  exist  in  some  persons  by  a  sensation  of  weight 
in  the  stomach  after  eating  ;  in  others,  by  a  sour  stomach  ;  in 
others,  heart-burn  ;  in  others,  great  distress  in  the  stomach,  after 
eating,  taking  place  in  a  few  minutes,  or  in  one  or  two  hours ;  in 
others,  by  a  great  deal  of  wind  in  the  stomach  ;  in  others,  by  se- 
ver5  head-aches  ;  mothers,  by  a  chronic  diarrheea,  the  food  com- 
ing away  unchanged  ;  in  others,  the  effects  are  chiefly  shown  by 
pains  in  different  parts  of  the  body,  more  often  in  the  left  side,  or 
from  the  breast-bone,  through  to  the  back-bone,  &c.  In  others, 
dyspepsia  is  shown  by  great  palpitation  of  the  heart.  In  a 
vast  many  cases,  true  heart  diseases  begin  with  dyspepsia ;  and 
in  many  others,  what  seems,  by  the  great  palpitation  and  stop. 
page  of  the  heart,  and  irregular  breathing,  to  be  a  genuine  dis- 
ease of  the  heart  itself,  is  not  so,  but  is  caused  by  indigestion. 
Some  or  all  of  the  foregoing  symptoms,  and  many  more,  such  as 
cough,  mentioned  in  another  place,  are  found  to  exist  in  dyspep- 
sia. I  might  mention  sleeplessness,  nervousness,  beating  of  the 
heart  on  laying  down  in  bed  at  night,  often  arise  from  indiges- 
tion. The  eifect  of  continued  indigestion  is,  to  reduce  the 
strength,  to  take  all  color  from  the  f.ico,  and,  in  many  cases,  to 
cause  the  face  to  become  the  color  of  a  tallow  candle.  At  other 
times,  it  causes  great  rushing  of  the  blood  to  the  head  and  face. 
It  is  the  fruitful  parent  of  skin  diseases,  or  is  intimately  con- 
nected with  them.  If  a  good  deal  of  bile  comes  into  the  stomach, 
it  is  apt  to  cause  the  skin  of  the  neck,  the  forehead,  &c.,  to 
become  very  thick  and  gross,  and  to  break  out  in  red  pimples, 
greatly  disfiguring  the  face,  and  utterly  destroying  the  beauty 
of  the  complexion.  I  have  only  time  to  indicate  to  you  a  few 
of  the  articles  of  food  that  incline  to  dyspepsia,  without  hav- 
ing time  to  name  many  other  causes  of  this  disease.  To  have 
good  digestion,  the  food  should  be  eaten  slowly,  and  well  and 
perfectly  chewed,  or  masticated.  If  the  teeth  of  any  one  are 
bad,  the  food  should  be  prepared,  in  cooking,  so  as  to  require 
but  little  chewing,  or  mastication.  Good  digestion  depends  ex- 
tremely on  our  choice  of  food.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to  lay 
down  rules  of  diet  that  do  not  find  a  great  many  exceptions 


192  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

in  their  application.  We  have  several  times  had  something 
like  a  fanaticism  start  upon  the  subject  of  diet.  In  these  cases, 
it  will  be  found  that  one  man  attempts  to  apply  his  individual 
experience  to  all  mankind.  Should  his  experience  happen  to 
be  contrary  to  universal  experience,  he  will  be  greatly  disap- 
pointed in  its  good  effects.  For  example,  one  has  told  us 
never  to  eat  meat.  On  attempting  to  apply  the  rule  of  not 
eating  meat  to  the  general  masses  of  men,  it  is  found  to*  fail, 
or,  when  attempted  to  be  adopted,  has  produced  the  most  dis- 
astrous results.  It  is  most  true,  that  what  agrees  with  one, 
will  not  agree  with  another.  One  can  live  on  very  light  food  ; 
one  requires  very  hearty  food  ;  one  can  be  abstemious,  others 
are  destroyed  by  it ;  one  can  eat  meat,  one  can  leave  it  off. 
In  all  this,  you  must  be  directed  by  your  own  experience.  In 
general,  you  should  practise  a  wholesome  carelessness  about  your 
food,  eating  a  little  of  any  thing  you  please,  unless  you  know  it 
injures  you.  Eat  enough,  but  never  indulge  in  excesses.  I  will 
mention  one  or  two  articles  often  used,  that  most  generally  have  a 
bad  effect  upon  the  complexion,  and  are  most  usually  injurious, 
especially  if  used  before  thirty  years  of  age,  or  even  at  any 
period  of  life.  Good  fresh  butter,  not  at  all  rancid,  and  eaten 
without  being  melted,  is,  in  a  vast  many  cases,  and  most  usu- 
ally, a  very  good  article  in  the  composition  of  our  diet.  A 
little  pure  sweet-oil  may  be  allowed.  But  all  the  grease  that 
is  procured  from  lard,  rancid  butter,  or  animal  oils,  or  gravies, 
is  most  injurious  to  the  complexion. 

I  will  inform  you  how  it  acts.  Grease,  on  being  thrown  into  the 
stomach,  cannot  be  digested  by  the  juices  of  the  stomach,  as 
these  incline  to  be  acid,  an.d  will  not  digest  grease  well.  In  or- 
der to  do  this,  it  is  necessary  to  call  bile  into  the  stomach,  which 
is  a  kind  of  soap  ;  and  grease,  fats,  &c.,  will  not  digest  in  the  sto- 
mach, until  bile  joins  and  reduces  them  to  a  kind  of  soap,  so  that 
much  greasy  food  for  ladies  will  be  found  to  make  them  bilious, 
and  produce  more  or  less  of  dyspepsia,  in  one  or  other  of  its 
forms.  Now,  we  find  that  grease,  or  rancid  butter,  or  at  least 
melted  butter,  enters  very  largely  into  the  composition  of  pie- 
crust, and  all  the  forms  of  pastry,  into  some  kinds  of  cake,  &c. 
These  all  act  badly  on  the  stomach.  This  is  the  case  with  fat 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  193 


food,  that  is  highly  seasoned,  as  pork,  sausages,  &c.  So  that  a 
lady  who  would  have  a  fine  complexion,  and  good  digestion,  must 
avoid  fat  meats,  rich  fat  gravies,  highly  seasoned  fat  hashed  meats, 
pastry,  and  every  species  of  diet  where  fat  enters  largely  into 
the  preparation.  Again,  new  bread,  and  all  hot  bread,  will  be 
found  hard  to  digest,  and,  as  a  general  rule,  should  be  avoided. 
Coffee  is  very  generally  used,  and  by  some  persons  who  attain  to 
considerable  age,  and  speak  of  it  in  raptures.  Yet,  from  the  ex- 
perience of  many  thousand  dyspeptics,  who  have  consulted  ma, 
I  find  no  article  of  diet  more  generally  repudiated  by  the  dys- 
peptic, than  coffee.  Its  effects  are  almost  universally,  if  much 
drank,  to  produce  dyspepsia,  nervousness,  palpitation  of  the  heart, 
head-aches,  dizziness,  costiveness,  covering  the  face  with  pimples, 
and  making  the  skin  of  the  face  thick,  yellow,  coarse,  and  repul- 
sive, destroying  both  rose  and  lily.  Its  earliest  effect  is  to  de- 
stroy the  complexion,  producing  sallowness,  and  great  biliousness, 
when  no  injury  whatever  is  suspected.  It  inclines  to  produce 
in  those  predisposed  to  it,  bleeding  lungs,  and  to  develope  scrofula 
and  skin  diseases.  Children  should  never  taste  it,  except  at  long 
intervals,  say  once  a  year,  or  month.  Black  tea  in  moderation, 
milk,  and  also  water,  or  milk  and  water,  are  good  articles  for 
drink.  Late  suppers  should  be  avoided.  Our  food  should  never 
be  taken  much,  if  any,  warmer  than  new  milk.  Animals  in  their 
native  state,  usually  enjoy  perfect  health  their  whole  lives,  yet 
never  take  their  food  any  warmer  than  new  milk. 

In  general,  a  lady,  who  would  have  perfect  health,  and  a  bril- 
liant complexion,  should  eat  as  much  food  as  she  pleases,  inclin- 
ing to  eat  enough,  and  to  select,  indiscriminately,  as  her  taste,  or 
appetite,  or  convenience,  or  opportunity  allows,  fish,  flesh,  or  fowl, 
fruits,  vegetables,  bread,  &c.  Allow  her  food  to  be  well  cooked, 
and,  above  all,  let  it  be  of  a  perfect  quality,  not  rancid  or  tough. 

Table  salt,  on  fresh  provisions,  she  may  eat  as  much  of  as  she 
pleases.  Salt  is  an  indispensable  article  of  diet,  and  perhaps 
never  does  hurt. 

Recollect,  we  should  eat  for  nourishment,  not  gluttony.  Variety 

in  our  food  is  desirable,  but  this  variety  should  not  depend  on 

the  art  of  the  cook  or  confectioner,  but  on  the  diversified  variety 

we  select  from  the  markets.     Meats  long  salted  should  not  be 

9 


194  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

greatly   indulged    in.      Acids,  spices,   pickles,   &c.,  should    be 
sparingly  used. 

Watch  your  own  experience,  and  what  you  find  best  agrees, 
use  it,  but  let  the  variety  from  which  you  may  choose  be  as 
large  as  possible.  Never  run  after  vagaries  in  diet.  Never 
weigh  your  food,  or  think  to  build  up  a  constitution  on  one  kind 
of  food  or  diet.  What  you  may  find  by  experience  disagrees 
with  you,  leave  off.  Do  not  dig  your  graves  with  your  teeth. 
Yet  do  not  be  finical  in  your  diet,  eating  moderately  at  times  of 
any  food,  should  it  even  be  a  little  proscribed. 

THE  LIVER. 
Plate  Q. 


Many  persons  impute  most  diseases  to  the  liver.  A  genuine 
liver  disease  is  rare.  When  it  does  take  place,  it  requires  the 
aid  of  the  physician.  Observe  the  rules  of  health  laid  down  in 
this  lecture,  and  you  will  rarely  have  any  liver  complaint  or  any 
derangement  of  any  of  its  important  functions. 

BAD  BREATH. 

The  breath  of  some  dyspeptics  is  extremely  offensive,  owing 
to  undigested  food  remaining  a  long  time  in  the  stomach  and 
bowels. 

HOW  LONG  THE  FOOD  CONTINUES  IN  THE  BODY, 
The  huE&n  machine  consumes,  or,  in  other  words,  we  eat  and 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  195 

drink  from  five  to  twelve  pounds  every  day — in  extreme  cases 
much  less,  or  vastly  more,  but  this  is  about  its  medium  range. 
Now,  all  this  leaves  the  body  after  it  has  accomplished  its  des- 
tined object.  How  do  I  know  it  all  leaves  the  body  ?  I  know 
from  the  very  common  fact,  that  many  persons  weigh  more  at  20 
than  they  do  at  70 — in  fifty  years  not  having  gained  one  ounce. 
Some  persons  flesh  up  a  little,  but  it  does  not  alter  the  general  rule, 
for  should  even  a  very  small  portion  of  our  daily  food  be  retained, 
or  stick  to  our  bodies,  we  should  become  monsters  in  size  during 
a  long  life.  Now,  all  this  food  and  drink,  with  all  its  grossness, 
leaves  the  machine,  or  person,  through  four  avenues  only,  namely, 
the  skin,  the  lungs,  the  kidneys,  and  the  bowels;  and  on  the  mu- 
tual harmony,  in  action  and  functions,  of  those  four  great  avenues 
for  evacuation  and  unloading  the  machine,  its  health  and  long 
continuance  must  inevitably  depend. 

The  gross  portions  of  the  food,  or  that  which  is  unfit  for  nour- 
ishment, or  is  undigested,  passes  through  the  small  bowels  and  is 
lodged  in  the  large  bowel.  In  a  healthy  condition  of  the  large 
bowel,  and  when  it  acts  naturally,  it  evacuates  itself  every 
twenty. four  hours.  If  the  contents  of  that  bowel  are  retained 
longer  than  twenty-four  hours,  it  becomes  injurious  to  the  ma- 
chine, or  system,  and  the  injury  is  in  proportion  to  the  time  it  is 
retained  over  its  natural  term. 

COSTIVENESS. 

When  this  bowel  is  sluggish  in  its  functions,  the  fluids  that 
should  pass  by  the  bowels  are  thrown  upon  the  skin,  the  kidneys, 
and  the  lungs,  loading  each  of  those  organs,  and  deranging  their 
offices.  One  of  the  very  earliest  effects  is  to  render  the  skin  of 
the  face  gross,  thick,  sallow,  and  unhealthy.  Its  brilliancy  is 
lost.  The  blood  rushes  more  or  less  to  the  head,  the  eye  becomes 
dim,  and  soon  loses  its  clearness  and  brilliancy.  The  skin  every- 
where ceases  to  be  transparent  ;  an  unpleasant  odour  is  exhaled 
from  the  body  ;  the  breath  becomes  offensive  ;  the  liver  en- 
larges, and  is  loaded  with  blood  and  bile  ;  the  right  side  of  the 
heart  is  often  enlarged  by  it  ;  dyspepsia  results,  and  bleeding  at 
the  lungs.  I  rarely  ever  knew  a  case  of  bleeding  at  the  lungs  that 
not  accompanied  by  costiveness.  Piles,  bearing  down  pains, 


196  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

monthly  irregularity,  disease  of  the  womb,  enlargement  of  the 
ovaries,  falling  of  the  womb,  dropsy,  apoplexy,  palsy,  spine  dis- 
eases, gravel,  and  disease  of  the  kidneys,  head-ache,  and  sick 
head-ache,  are  often  produced  by  costiveness,  and  always  aggra- 
vated by  it. 

In  the  winter  of  1842,  I  was  requested  to  visit  an  old  gentleman 
who  was  dying  of  an  obscure  disease.  I  was  requested  to  deter- 
mine, if  possible,  what  was  the  matter.  A  wealthy  farmer  took 
rne  to  call  on  this  patient.  We  stopped  at  his  house  to  change 
horses,  and  he  requested  me  to  see  his  sister-in-law,  who  was 
sick.  I  found  she  had  a  bad  enlargement  of  the  right  side  of  the 
heart.  On  asking  the  state  of  her  bowels,  I  found  they  moved  but 
once  a  week.  On  going  into  the  farmer's  house,  I  found  his  wife 
sitting  in  an  arm-chair,  unable  to  walk.  She  had  lost  entirely  the 
use  of  her  lower  extremities,  from  the  small  of  her  back  down, 
caused  entirely  by  costiveness.  Here  were  two  sisters  ;  one  with  a 
heart  disease,  the  other  palsy,  caused  by  costiveness  only.  The 
large  bowel,  when  its  instincts  are  followed,  never  fails  to  solicit 
an  evacuation  daily.  When  neglected,  the  next  day  the  call  will 
be  less  urgent,  and  in  a  few  weeks  habitual  costiveness  will  be 
established.  The  calls  of  Nature  become  less  and  less  in  some 
cases,  until  the  bowel  will  not  act  at  all.  In  the  early  part  of 
March,  1644,  I  was  consulted  by  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
legislature,  on  behalf  of  his  sister,  who  had  passed  nine  entire 
months  without  an  evacuation  from  the  bowels,  the  bowels  having 
ceased  to  act  altogether.  I  was  consulted  in  Boston,  last  July, 
by  a  gentleman,  proprietor  of  a  large  hotel,  for  his  niece,  a  young 
lady,  who  had  not  had  an  evacuation  from  the  bowels  for  four 
and  a  half  months.  Bloating  is  a  frequent  companion  of  costive- 
ness. 

CURE  OF  COSTIVENESS. 

The  perfect  preventive,  and  the  almost  infallible '  remedy  for 
costiveness,  is  habit.  Never  allow  a  day  to  pass  without  a  free 
evacuation.  Observe  one  particular  exact  time  for  it,  and  at  that 
exact  period  solicit  the  evacuation.  A  few  days,  or  weeks,  pa- 
tient solicitation,  will  usually  restore  Nature  to  its  full  health  in 
this  respect.  Should  this  not  fully  answer,  eating  soft  food,  or 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  197 

coarse  bread,  such  as  bread  made  of  corn-meal,  or  of  wheat-meal, 
unbolted.  These  are  excellent  to  remove  costiveness.  Chewing  a 
little  good  Turkey  rhubarb  daily, will  often  remove  all  sluggishness 
of  the  bowels,  and,  assisted  by  habit,  will  entirely  cure  costive- 
ness.  Rhubarb  has  the  rare  property  of  a  tonic  to  the  bowels, 
and  will  not  lose  its  effects  upon  the  bowels,  or  do  them  any  in- 
jury. I  have  known  a  lady,  who  had  taken  rhubarb,  more  or 
less,  for  forty  years.  It  is  a  safe  and  most  valuable  remedy  for 
costiveness,  if  assisted  by  habit.  Neither  health,  beauty,  or  pu- 
rity of  person,  can  be  long  preserved,  if  costiveness  exists.  It 
should  be  relieved  at  all  hazards. 

KIDNEY  EVACUATIONS. 

The  next  great  evacuaticwi  from  the  system  is  from  the  kidneys. 
The  bladder  is  a  reservoir,  into  which  is  received  the  water,  which, 
with  a  variety  of  salts  and  earths,  are  separated  from  the  blood 
by  the  kidneys.  The  water  is  conveyed  from  the  kidneys  by  a 
pipe  from  each  kidney,  that  conveys  it  to  the  bladder.  (See  plate  S.) 
In  a  natural  and  healthy  state,  the  proper  time  when  the  bladder 
should  be  emptied  is  indicated.  Should  the  water  be  habitually 
retained  longer  than  is  proper,  the  effect,  as  in  the  bowels,  is  to 
lessen  the  action  of  the  bladder  and  kidneys,  and  less  water  is 
taken  off  from  the  blood.  In  this  way  gravel  and  other  diseases 
of  the  kidneys  often  take  place.  It  is  well  known  that  the  highest 
and  lowest  people  in  England  rarely  have  any  kidney  disease  or 
stone  in  the  bladder,  whilst  the  intermediate  classes,  who,  from 
necessity,  will  often  retain  the  water  for  hours  beyond  its  na- 
tural period,  have  more  of  stone  and  gravel  in  the  bladder  and 
kidneys.  If  this  is  habitual,  much  less  water  will  be  secreted 
from  the  blood  ;  bad  odour  of  person  arises,  loss  of  flesh,  and  a 
peculiar  sharpness  of  the  lines  of  the  face,  sallowness,  &c.  All 
these  complaints  are  usually  prevented  by  never  repressing  the 
calls  of  Nature  in  this  respect. 

PERIODS. 

Allow  me  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  great  and  peculiar  office 
of  Nature,  that  indicates  maturity  of  the  woman,  beginning  at  dif- 
ferent ages  in  different  persons,  dependent  on  climate  and  edu- 


I 
198  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

cation  somewhat.  In  this  climate,  it  commences  at  about  thir- 
teen,  fourteen,  fifteen,  sixteen,  and  seventeen  years,  without  in- 
jury to  the  female  health.  Fourteen  and  fifteen  are  the  most  usual 
periods,  when  naturally  recurring  almost  with  the  regularity  of 
clock-work,  and  continuing  from  thirty  to  thirty-eight  years,  end- 
ing  usually  between  forty- four  and  fifty -two  years.  By  this  great 
provision  of  Nature,  the  female  is  reminded  each  month  that  she 
may  become  a  mother.  At  its  commencement  in  young  ladies, 
it  is  at  times  irregular,  taking  place  perhaps  two  or  three  times 
in  the  same  number  of  years.  This  is  usually  owing  to  effemi- 
nacy, to  poor  health,  a  low  state  of  strength  and  delicacy,  arising 
from  attacks  of  sickness,  from  confinement  in-doors,  too  much  at 
school,  and  general  debility.  This  is  soon  cured  by  change  of 
air,  out-door  exercise,  sea-bathing,  and  strengthening  medicines. 
Aftei  the  monthly  periods  are  fully  established,  any  derange- 
ment of  them  is  a  just  cause  of  alarm,  and  should  warn  us  to 
seek  relief  from  medical  aid,  which  is  usually  successful  in  the. 
cure.  The  effect  of  disturbed  periods,  irregularity  or  stoppage, 
is  disastrous  to  the  health  and  beauty  of  a  lady;  color  flies  from 
her  countenance,  her  face  becomes  lifeless  in  appearance,  and 
of  the  color  of  a  tallow  candle  ;  her  eyes  lose  their  brilliancy  ; 
her  buoyancy  of  spirits  leaves  her  ;  she  becomes  spiritless,  timid, 
shuns  society,  and,  when  not  relieved,  is  apt  to  fall  a  prey  to  dis- 
ease, consumption,  dyspepsia,  dropsy,  &c.,  &c.  In  nearly  all 
cases,  it  is  easy  to  cure  this  state  of  health,  and  especially  so  at 
its  commencement.  In  some  cases,  and  rather  frequent,  the  turns 
are  often  too  profuse,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  even  to  flood- 
ing. This  state  of  things  may  occur  to  all  ladies,  but  it  is  most 
usual  at  from  20  to  40.  The  effect  is  to  produce  great  sinking  at 
the  stbnftch,  and  faint  feeling,  weak  back,  inability  to  walk  much, 
general  prostration,  even  confinement  to  bed  for  months  at  a 
time.  It  is  very  easily  and  perfectly  cured.  I  do  not  recollect 
to  have  ever  failed  to  cure  such  cases  in  a  few  days.  There  is 
one  effect  produced  by  derangement  of  the  monthly  sickness, 
that  I  do  not  recollect  ever  to  have  seen  mentioned  by  any  writer, 
in  connection  with  disturbed  monthly  turns  ;  but  which,  I  think, 
in  nearly  all  cases,  proceeds  from  a  disturbance  of  the  monthly 
periods,  or  derangement,  in  some  way,  of  the  female  functions. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES   ONLY. 199 

This  the  formation  on  different  parts  of  the  face,  the  forehead, 
and  upper  parts  of  the  face,  most  usually,  of  yellow  or  brown 
spots,  occurring  more  or  less  in  extent  or  depth  of  color ;  at  one 
time  hardly  noticed,  at  another  time,  large,  well  defined  spots 
cover  half  the  face.  These  spots  are  often  said  to  arise  from  a 
disturbed  liver.  I  think  they  all  but  always  arise  from  a  de- 
rangement of  the  monthly  periods,  or  some  functions  of  the  womb. 
At  times  they  are  quite  curable.  The  effect  is  most  disastrous 
to  female  beauty,  for  the  brilliancy  and  clearness  of  the  com- 
plexion is  entirely  lost.  A  cure  can  generally  be  obtained. 

PAINFUL  MONTHLY  PERIODS. 

In  a  great  many  cases,  the  commencement  of  the  monthly  pe- 
riods is  marked  by  vast  pain,  most  distressing  and  terrible,  tak- 
ing all  strength  from  the  body;  and  often  continuing  a  whole 
week.  I  have,  at  times,  succeeded  in  perfect  cures;  at  other 
times,  I  have  failed. 

END  OF  THE  MON1HLY  PERIODS. 

The  natural  close  of  the  monthly  turns  is  often  marked  by 
some  disturbance  of  the  female  health,  but  by  care,  keeping  the 
bowels  free,  and  preserving  the  general  health,  it  will  usually 
pass  away,  and  a  long  calm  succeed  in  the  female  health.  This, 
when  properly  managed,  will  be  scarcely  marked  by  a  single 
ripple  upon  its  smooth,  unbroken  surface,  until  she  attains,  or 
may  attain  to  100  years.  Although,  after  the  cessation  of  the 
months,  she'cannot  again  give  existence  to  another,  yet  she  can 
enjoy  the  highest  charms  of  society  and  social  intercourse.  She 
can  guide  the  young,  and  everywhere  enliven  and  adorn,  and  in- 
struct society,  by  the  fervor  of  her  affections  to  her  family,  the 
brilliancy  of  her  wit,  the  polisn  and  charm  of  her  accomplish, 
rnents,  and  the  generous  diffusion  of  her  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience, resulting  from  the  stores  of  her  reading,  and  the  extent 
of  her  observation.  Let  her  preserve  her  health  and  charms  in 
the  highest  perfection,  and  never  allow  inactivity  to  creep  upon 
her,  or  for  an  instant  allow  the  thoughts  of  age  to  approach  her, 
or  think  herself  less  useful  or  attractive  than  she  ever  was,  con- 
vincing all  that  approach  her,  by  her  kindness  and  benevolence, 


200  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

that  time  can  not  sear  her  affections,  or  damp  her  sympathies,  or 
pluck  a  single  flower  of  loveliness  from  her  mind.  Such  a  lady 
will  find  the  last  half  of  her  century  as  pleasant,  and  even  more 
pleasant,  than  the  first.  All  places  will  be  open  to  her,  all  hearts 
will  welcome  her.  No  society  can  be  complete  without  her  ;  her 
hildren  will  be  proud  of  her,  her  friends  will  admire  her;  she 
^ill  so  realize  the  value  of  her  presence,  and  the  extent  of  her  use- 
fulness, that  never  for  a  moment  can  she  be  made  to  feel  herself 
a  burden  to  others,  or  useless  in  society.  She  should  never  re- 
tire from  society,  and  never  cease  to  make  herself  useful. 

EVACUATIONS  FROM  THE  LUNGS. 

I  have  mentioned  the  lungs  as  one  of  the  avenues  through 
which  passes  off*  more  or  less  of  what  we  eat  or  drink  ;  and  that 
neither  by  coughing  or  expectoration ;  but  the  matter  is  deposit- 
ed in  the  air,  and  passes  off  by  the  breath.  To  convince  your- 
selves of  this,  only  breathe  a  moment  upon  a  plate  of  cold  glass, 
and  you  will  notice  it  instantly  covered  with  viscid  matter.  How 
much  the  lungs  throw  off  in  tjris  way,  we  have  no  positive  means 
of  ascertaining.  It  differs  in  different  persons,  amounting,  in 
some  cases,  I  have  no  doubt,  to  some  pounds  daily.  Clear,  cold, 
dry  air  will  take  off  vastly  more  from  the  lungs  than  moist,  hu- 
mid air.  Hence,  in  cold,  damp,  wet  weather,  the  lungs  are  vast- 
ly more  loaded  and  stuffed  up  than  in  a  clear,  dry  air.  This 
\vill  teach  you  the  value  of  breathing  the  pure  out-door  air  daily, 
frequently,  and  constantly  as  possible.  I  have  spoken  of  this 
sufficiently  \n  my  remarks  on  forming  a  fine  chest,  and  on  the 
prevention  of  consumption,  in  another  lecture,  to  which  I  parti- 
cularly refer  you. 

THE  SKJN. 

Having  passed  over  these  three  great  avenues  of  evacuation, 
— the  bowels,  the  kidneys,  and  lungs, — I  now  come  to  the  fourth, 

and  last — THE  SKIN. 

Before  proceeding  with  the  general  subject,  I  will  say,  the  top 
of  the  chest  is  the  very  throne  of  beauty.  Its  round  and  volup- 
tuous swell  is  most  seducing,  winning  every  observer.  The 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  201 

skin  covering  it  should  be  brilliantly  clear  and  transparent.  It  is 
the  misfortune  of  a  great  many  ladies,  to  have  the  chest  anJ  neck, 
sometimes,  but  the  chest  very  often,  most  horribly  scarred  by 
sores,  made  to  remove  pain  or  tightness  across  the  chest,  a  cough, 
or  a  cold.  Even  little  girls  suffer  from  this  practice.  No  prac- 
tice of  medicine  or  surgery,  in  my  opinion,  is  more  pernicious,  or 
more  detestable  than  this,  inflicting  most  horrible  agony,  and  in- 
jury, in  place  of  good,  very  rarely  benefiting  any  patient  in  the 
least  degree.  It  was  only  yesterday  I  had  occasion  to  examine 
the  chest  of  a  young  lady,  who,  in  the  last  five  months,  had 
had  tartar  emetic  sores  made  on  her  chest  nearly  all  over  it ; 
front  and  sides  marked  by  hundreds  of  scars,  in  size  from  a  small 
pea  to  that  of  a  four-penny  piece,  without  a  thought  of  good  or 
benefit.  Rarely  need  you  apply  a  blister,  all  but  never  setons, 
or  sores.  Should  you  wish  to  remove  pain,  or  soreness,  or  stric- 
ture, rub  the  affected  part  well  with  a  little  stimulating  lini- 
ment, and  then  cover  it  with  a  linen  or  cotton  cloth,  dipped  in  cold 
water,  wrung  out  so  as  not  to  drip  any.  Keep  it  on  a  few  hours, 
then  change  it.  Using  liniment,  and  wearing  a  wet  cloth  a  few 
days,  save  in  very  rare  cases,  will  remove  pain,  and  soreness, 
and  tightness  upon  the  lungs,  infinitely  better  than  sores  of  any 
kind,  and  will  produce  no  pain  or  prostration,  and  leave  no  scars. 
Mothers,  I  beg  of  you,  allow  no  such  sores  to  be  made  upon  the 
chests  of  your  daughters,  and  allow  none  on  yourselves.  1  wit- 
nessed one  case,  on  a  lady's  chest,  where  a  tartar  emetic  sore 
was  made  on  the  breast-bone,  and  continued  until  a  hole  was 
eaten  entirely  through  the  breast-bone  into  the  chest.  It  did  not 
heal  for  several  months. 

The  beauty  and  brilliancy  of  the  skin  and  the  whole  surface  of 
the  body  is  greatly  affected  by  the  condition  of  the  lungs,  the 
stomach,  the  liver,  the  bowels,  the  womb,  the  kidneys, — and  all 
these  are  greatly  affected  by  the  condition  of  the  skin.  It  is  im- 
possible for  the  skin  and  complexion  to  be  healthy  when  any  or 
all  of  these  are  much  deranged  in  their  functions.  It  is  also  dif- 
ficult for  them  to  be  in  health  should  the  skin  not  act  in  a  healthy 
manner.  Our  great  Creator  intended  the  skin^for  a  clothing  find 
a  protection  to  the  whole  body.  Some  tribes  of  men,  at  this  day, 
wear  no  clothing,  not  a  vestige,  and  yet  suffer  no  more  than  the 


202  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

animals  around  them.  This  fact  should  never  be  forgotten,  that 
the  skin  is  itself  a  clothing.  Artificial  clothing  is  intended  to  ex- 
clude the  cold,  and  retain  the  heat  and  warmth  of  the  person 
upon  itself.  A  certain  amount  of  clothing  does  all  that  clothing 
can  do  for  the  wearer ;  and  after  this,  you  may  pile  on  as  much 
clothing  as  you  please,  and  you  will  only  burden  yourselves  and 
effeminate  the  skin,  without  adding  one  particle  to  its  warmth. 
The  standard  of  health  is  rather  to  have  the  skin  cool,  than  to 
have  it  hot  or  perspiring.  Many  delicate  persons  are  taught,  that 
when  feeble  or  reduced  in  health,  adding  very  much  to  their  cloth- 
ing will  contribute  greatly  to  their  health.  They  flatter  them- 
selves, that  by  much  clothing  and  warmth,  they  can  fence  out 
disease  ;  and  if  in  perfect  health,  a  great  deal  of  clothing  will  keep 
"  them  so.  A  sufficiency  of  clothing  is  necessary  to  health,^but 
too  much  is  very  injurious  to  health  indeed,  and  greatly  injures 
the  complexion,  as  do  heated  rooms.  As  little  clothing  as  pos- 
sible is  the  true  rule  of  health  and  beauty,  and  rooms  as  cold  as 
possible,  consistent  with  comfort.  When  already  habituated  to 
very  much  clothing  and  warm  rooms,  and  flannels,  especially  next 
to  the  skin,  sudden  changes  should  not  be  attempted,  and,  above 
all,  never  in  autumn  or  winter,  or  early  spring  ;  but  when  we  pro- 
pose to  reduce  our  clothing,  the  change  should  be  made  in  early 
summer,  and  thus,  through  the  warm  weather  and  advancing  fall, 
we  may  permanently  leave  off  all  unnecessary  clothing.  I  think 
cotton  or  silk  worn  next  the  skin  in  summer,  and  air  the  year,  if 
possible,  far  preferable  to  flannel  or  woollen.  Should  one  be 
already  accustomed  to  the  use  of  woollen-flannel,  she  may  sub- 
stitute good  cotton-flannel,  I  think  to  great  advantage.  Wool- 
len-flannel worn  all  the  year,  and  great  quantities  of  clothing, 
effeminate  the  skin  prodigiously,  destroy  the  complexion,  and 
induce  debility  and  great  delicacy.  The  slightest  changes  of 
weather  are  felt  to  the  innermost  core  of  the  heart;  not  a  breath 
of  air  can  blow  upon  her,  or  the  least  part  of  her  person,  or  neck, 
or  bosom,  be  exposed  to  the  air,  without  taking  cold.  The  true 
rule  is  to  wear  as  little  clothing  as  possible,  consistent  with  com- 
fort. Never  wear  clothing  for  health,— wear  it  for  ornament,- — 
wear  it  for  comfort,  so  as  not  to  be  chilly  or  cold,  but  never  in- 
crease it  for  health.  The  neck  should  always  be  uncovered, 


LECTTTRE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  208 

or  with  the  slightest  possible  covering,  unless  exposed  to  very 
great  cold-  Ladies,  who  habitually  cover  the  neck,  are  liable 
to  sore  throat,  while  those  who  habitually  keep  the  throat  and 
neck  uncovered  seldom  have  sore  throat  or  cold. 

A  piece  of  human  skin,  on  being  held  up  to  the  air  and  viewed 
through  a  magnifying  glass,  is  seen  to  be  perforated  with  innu- 
merable small  openings  through  it.  These  are  the  pores  of  the 
ekin.  Through  these  pores,  when  in  health,  a  great  quantity  of 
matter  is  constantly  passing,  in  an  extremely  subtile  form,  and  is 
called  the  insensible  perspiration.  Were  a  person  divested  of 
clothing  and  placed  in  a  glass  case,  and  the  air  pumped  all  out, 
the  body  would  look  as  if  covered  with  a  cloud ;  upon  placing 
yourselves  in  a  bath,  after  a  few  moments  you  can  notice  air 
bubbles  rising  from  the  skin,  and  covering  it  all  over  like  very 
fine  pearls.  This  is  the  insensible  perspiration,  and  is  constantly 
passing  off  through  the  pores  of  the  skin.  This  makes  the  skin 
the  fourth  great  avenue,  through  which  passes  an  important 
share  of  what  we  eat  and  drink.  Now  it  is  of  the  last  import- 
ance to  health  and  beauty,  that  the  pores  of  the  skin  be  kept  in  a 
healthy  state,  and,  in  fact,  that  the  skin  be  considered  as  a  cover- 
ing and  a  clothing,  and  as  a  great  element  for  evacuating,  and 
unloading  the  human  machine  or  system  of  its  useless  or  effete 
matter.  To  achieve  these  two  purposes  for  the  skin,  it  must  be 
well  aired,  never  effeminated,  and  the  pores  never  allowed  to  be 
closed  by  its  own  secretions  or  external  impurity.  I  have  before 
remarked,  you  must  not  wear  too  much  clothing,  as  it  effemi- 
nates the  skin.  All  your  clothing  should  allow  of  ventilation  of 
the  skin,  and  not  completely  confine  the  air  around  the  body. 
Some  persons  wear  oil  cloth,  or  oil  silk,  around  the  person,  over 
some  part  of  their  person,  or  next  to  the  skin,  to  exclude  the  air 
entirely  ;  nothing  can  be  more  pernicious  or  destructive  to  health. 
It  effeminates  the  skin  and  prostrates  the  system,  and  should 
never  be  done.  To  strengthen  the  skin,  and  to  fortify  it  and 
all  the  system  against  cold  or  changes  of  weather,  and  to  ren- 
der the  skin  pure  and  healthy,  no  remedy  can  for  one  moment  be 
compared  to  washing  the  whole  surface  of  the  body  over  daily  with 
pure  cold  water.  I  do  not  refer  to  covering  yourselves  with  water, 
or  taking  a  bath,  but  simply  to  washing  your  whole  person  over- 


204  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

daily  with  pure  cold  water,  as  you  do  your  face  and  hands.  Ex- 
tend  the  same  favor  to  your  whole  person,  that  you  do  to  your 
hands  and  face.  All  you  require  is  two  to  four  quarts  of  cold  wa- 
ter, and  as  much  more  as  you  please,  but  a  common  wash-basin 
will  do,  and  two  or  three  towels.  Take  one  of  the  towels,  dip  it  in 
his  crystal  fluid,  eminently  worthy  of  you,  and  you  of  it;  lave  well 
he  wrists,  the  ears,  the  neck,  the  chest,  the  whole  person,  the  lower 
limbs,  the  feet.  Dwell  much  on  the  chest,  about  the  collar-bones 
and  below  them,  and  on  all  the  large  joints,  and  feet  and  soles  of 
the  feet.  As  it  will  be  a  little  difficult  to  wash  between  the 
shoulders,  fill  a  towel  full  of  water,  and  spread  it  out  like  a 
shawl,  and  convey  it  over  the  head,  and  let  it  fall  down  the  back 
to  the  hips,  covering  all  the  shoulders,  and  all  the  spine.  Let  it 
embrace  and  wet  all  the  spine  well.  Now,  take  a  good-sized 
towel,  one  in  each  hand,  if  you  please,  and  commence  vigorous 
friction,  and  wiping  on  and  over  all  your  person,  rub  yourselves 
perfectly  dry,  animate  all  the  skin  by  rubbing  with  a  dry  towel. 
This  done,  throw  tho  dry  towel  over  your  neck,  take  the  opposite 
corners  of  the  towel  in  each  hand,  draw  the  towel  across  the 
back  of  the  neck,  and  between  the  shoulders,  and  down  the  back 
as  far  as  the  hips,  wiping  and  rubbing  the  whole  spine  well  and 
thoroughly,  and  shoulders,  neck,  shoulder-blades,  &c.,  all  down. 
Fill  the  chest  full  of  air  as  you  can,  then  throw  the  head,  neck, 
shoulders,  and  chest  backwards  as  far  as  possible,  and  for  one  or 
two  minutes  walk  the  roonj,  holding  the  breath,  and  expanding 
the  chest  to  its  fullest  extent  by  drawing  in  all  the  air  you  can. 
By  this  operation  your  shoulders  will  soon  lie  flat  to  the  back 
of  the  chest,  and  the  bosom,  all  untrarrrnelled,  will  swell  and  re- 
sume all  the  luxuriance  of  its  natural  form,  and  almost  unap- 
proachable beauty.  This  whole  open/lion  will  not  occupy  you 
more  than  three  or  four  minutes,  when  your  ablutions,  frictions, 
and  expanding  the  chest,  will  be  finished,  and  you  prepared  to 
resume  your  clothing.  The  morning;  is  the  best  time  of  day  for 
bathing,— on  first  stepping  out  of  bed,  and  when  all  the  skin  is  in 
a  glow  of  warmth.  Any  other  hour  of  the  day,  or  on  retiring  at 
night,  may  be  selected  with  great  advantage,  as  inclination  or 
convenience  may  dictate.  Ladies  not  accustomed  to  cold  bath- 
ing, or  who  dread  exposing  the  person  to  the  air,  may,  at  first,  use 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  205 

only  a  damp  towel,  or  merely  dampened  in  salt  and  warm  water, 
and  first  expose  only  the  limbs  and  person  very  partially  at  a 
time,  and  so  gradually  accustom  the  surface  of  the  person  to  ex- 
posure. In  this  way,  by  exercising  a  little  sound  discretion  and 
care,  in  five  to  ten  days  the  most  effeminated  and  feeble  persons 
may  habituate  themselves  to  the  free  use  of  cold  water,  over  all 
the  surface  of  the  body  and  limbs,  daily.  Should  you  in  the  com- 
mencement take  cold,  you  need  not  dread  taking  cold  always  from 
exposure  of  the  person,  or  bathing  with  cold  water.  The  value 
of  the  bathing,  save  mere  purity,  is  derived  from  the  cold  that  is 
in  the  water.  Bathing  in  cold  water  is  more  valuable  when  the 
weather  is  coldest  in  autumn,  winter,  and  spring.  In  summer 
its  effects  are  less  striking  than  in  winter.  It  is  at  this  moment, 
ladies,  I  wish  I  possessed  the  highest  powers  of  persuasion,  to  in- 
duce you  to  adopt  at  once  constant  daily  ablutions  with  cold  water 
all  your  lives.  It  may  be  done  always,  whether  the  monthly  turns 
are  on  or  not.  When  accustomed  to  it,  it  may  be  done  an  hour 
before  childbirth,  or  an  hour  after,  with  perfect  safety.  It  is 
hardly  possible  to  imagine  any  fever,  or  any  sickness,  that  forbids 
your  daily  bathing,  or  washing  all  over  with  cold  water.  On  the 
contrary,  in  scarlet  fever,  measles,  typhus  fever,  childbed  fever, 
lung  fever,  scrofula,  spine  diseases,  liver  complaint,  dyspepsia, 
consumption,  ague  and  fever,  erysipelas,  and,  in  fact,  in  almost 
any  and  every  disease  incident  to  the  human  frame,  cold-bathing 
is  itself  a  great  remedy,  and  never  can  do  hurt,  when  you  have 
before  been  accustomed  to  it.  Rf  rely,  very  rarely,  will  you  be 
subject  to  any  of  these,  should  voi?  constantly  and  faithfully  bathe 
daily  io  cold  water.  The  shower- bath  may  be  used,  when  per- 
fectly convenient  and  agreeable.  iVever  use  a  tepid  bath,  unless 
to  begin  before  yon  use  cold, — it  effeminates  the  whole  system. 
Let.  the  water  be  hot  or  cold.  Hot-baths  are  occasionally  admis- 
sible, as  a  remedy  for  pain,  fever,  or  hoarseness,  either  of  longer 
or  shorter  duration.  For  stiff  joints  from  rheumatism,  lameness, 
pain  in  the  side,  and  sore  throat,  or  q«uinzy,  pain  and  heat  in  the 
spine,  swelling  and  pain  and  heat  in  either  side,  or  about  the  chest, 
there  are  few  remedies  superior  to  cold  water,  either  poured,  cr, 
what  is  most  applicable,  a  piece  of  cotton  cloth  folded  two  or  three 


206  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


thicknesses,  and  laid  or  bound  on  the  painful  or  swelled  part, 
changed  often,  and  kept  on  for  hours,  or  days  and  nights. 

This  application  is  far  superior  to  a  blister,  or  tartar  emetic 
sores ;  will  remove  the  pain  sooner,  and  make  a  far  more  per- 
manent cure.  By  tying  up  the  neck  with  a  handkerchief  dipped 
in  cold  water,  and  kept  on  over- night,  or  for  several  days  and 
nights,  if  urgent,  or  for  successive  nights,  will  usually  cure  the 
sore  throat  in  the  most  gratifying  manner,  without  one  twinge  of 
pain,  or  reducing  the  strength  in  any  degree.  Dry  friction,  with 
a  flannel,  if  the  surface  is  cold,  or  with  a  dry  towel,  fine  or  coarse, 
as  suits  )rou,  or  with  a  flesh  brush,  as  taste  or  inclination,  or 
judgment  direct,  will  be  found  excellent.  Friction,  to  have  its 
best  effects,  should  be  long  continued,  and  for  old  persons,  they 
are  most  valuable ;  but  ought  not  to  supersede  their  use  of 
cold  water.  Cold  water  preserves  the  freshness  of  the  skin,  and 
prevents  wrinkles,  and  every  thing  of  that  kind,  to  a  great  degree. 
Followed  and  preceded  by  friction,  it  is  beyond  all  possible 
value.  A  person  who  bathes  in  cold  water  freely,  as  I  have 
directed,  can  hardly  feel  the  fluctuations  of  the  weather,  or  ba 
liable  to  take  cold,  or  receive  any  injury  from  atmospheric  changes. 
She  will  rarely  ever  have  a  pain,  or  be  liable  to  fever,  to  rheuma- 
tism, or  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  or  pleurisy,  or  quinzy,  or 
sore  throat,  or  cough,  or  skin  diseases,  liver  complaints,  or  dys- 
pepsia. When  you  can  faithfully  and  fearlessly  wash  yourselves 
all  over  with  cold  water  daily,  you  will  have  taken  a  vast  step 
in  the  commencement  of  a  period  of  uninterrupted  health.  In- 
fants at  the  breast  should  be  bathed  in  cold  water  daily,  from 
their  youngest  hours.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  doing  them  any  in- 
jury by  it.  It  is  impossible,  when  the  cold  sponge  bath  is  judi- 
ciously used.  It  is  of  almost  inappreciable  value  to  the  child. 
The  rooms  in  which  you  wash  may  be  very  warm  indeed,  if  you 
please,  and  should  always  be  warm,  if  you  are  delicate  or  unac- 
customed to  exposure  of  your  person  to  the  air.  To  render  the 
skin  soft  and  pure,  I  recommend  to  my  patients,  to  wash  all  over 
once  a  week,  with  saleeratus  and  water,  cold  or  hot,  or  with  su- 
per-carbonate of  soda,  which  is  the  best.  The  effect  of  this  upon 
the  skin,  used  once  a  week,  is  very  agreeable,  and  makes  the  sur- 
face of  the  person  as  pure  as  the  rose.  The  soda  should  be  the 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  207 

fine  super-carbonate  of  soda,  sold  by  the  apothecaries,  &c.  It 
will  make  the  skin  soft  as  the  finest,  the  softest  velvet.  You  need 
never  be  afraid  of  exposing  your  whole  person  to  the  air,  (in  a 
warm  room,  if  delicate,)  and  of  washing  all  over,  daily,  with  pure 
cold  water.  The  effect  is,  to  give  you  good  health,  and,  unless 
counteracted  by  other  causes,  I  have  already  mentioned,  and 
shall  mention  in  another  lecture,  uninterrupted  and  brilliant 
health.  The  mind  will  be  clear,  the  eye  bright,  and  countenance 
brilliant  as  the  first  blushes  of  the  morning.  Lassitude,  despon- 
dency, low  spirits,  and  indolence,  will  find  no  lodgment  in  your 
persons.  Timidity,  fear,  and  moroseness,  will  be  driven  from  you 
by  the  courage  and  resolution  that  result  from^ood  health.  Your 
first  great  enemy  is  ignorance ;  the  next,  its  legitimate  child,  is 
indolence.  Overcome  these,  and  you  have  before  you  a  pleasant 
and  beautiful  world,  a  long  and  happy  life;  victorious  over  these, 
and  every  other  obstacle  to  health,  usefulness,  or  hapoiness,  will 
retire  at  your  approach,  as  darkness  before  light. 

THE  FEET. 

I  will  say  one  word  on  the  condition  of  your  feet.  You  can 
not  walk  well,  unless  the  feet  are  in  good  condition.  When  not 
properly  treated,  the  feet  are  apt  to  swell,  and  become  covered 
more  or  less  with  corns.  Many  ladies  are  also  liable  to  very  cold 
feet,  the  cold  extending  even  to  the  knees,  at  times.  To  remedy 
all  this,  I  recommend  putting  your  feet  once  a  week  in  hot  water, 
— not  a  tepid,  warm  bath, — but  in  a  hot  bath, — and,  if  you  please, 
medicated.  I  direct  my  consumptive  patients,  and  all  my  patients, 
and  every  one,  to  prepare,  once  a  week,  a  foot-bath.  Take  three  or 
four  quarts  of  water,  warm  ;  add  to  this  one  tablespoon  ful  of  the  com- 
mon  washing  soda,  or  the  fine  super-carbonate  of  soda,  as  you  please, 
and  three  tablespoonsful  of  common  salt.  Now  put  your  feet  in, 
and  gradually  add  hot  water,  as  you  can  bear  it,  for  twenty  or 
thirty  minutes,  until  you  have  raised  a  very  high  heat  upon  your 
feet.  Now  remove  your  feet,  and  wipe  them  dry.  Should  any 
spots  of  hardened  skin  be  upon  them,  scrape  these  off  as  often  as 
possible,  so  as  to  make  all  the  skin  covering  the  feet,  the  bottom 
and  sides  especially,  as  thin  as  possible.  Repeat  this  bath  once  a 
week,  and  you  will  never  have  corns,  or  any  inconvenience  in 


208  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


your  feet, — remembering,  the  shoes  should  be  most  graceful,  and 
fit  the  foot  perfectly,  but  never  squeeze  or  pinch  any  part  of  it. 
The  hot  foot-bath,  such  as  I  have  described  to  you,  is  one  of 
the  greatest  medicines  for  rushing  of  blood  to  the  head,  recent  at- 
tacks of  pain,  neuralgia,  pleurisy,  swelled  face,  quinsy,  scarlet 
fever,  rheumatism,  lung  fever,  cold,  liver  complaint, — and  in  con- 
sumption, it  is  most  valuable.  In  all  cases  of  pains  in  the  limbs, 
and  diseased  circulation,  the  hot  foot-bath  is  valuable.  In  fits  in 
children,  and  a  vast  many  cases  of  disease,  quite  too  numerous 
to  mention,  it  will  never  do  any  injury.  In  profuse  monthly 
turns,  it  at  times  does  hurt ;  when  wanting  or  tardy,  it  is  valu- 
able. The  time  to  use  the  hot  foot-bath  is  at  bed-time  ;  and  on 
leaving  it,  retire  to'  bed.  Ladies  in  perfect  health  need  not  use 
the  hot  foot-bath,  unless  they  choose.  The  feet  of  all  should  be 
washed  daily  in  cold  water. 

AIR  AND  EXERCISE. 

Although,  in  another  lecture,  I  have  said  something  of  exercise, 
and  incidentally  much  of  air,  I  will  say  a  few  words  upon  these 
most  important  subjects.  Walking,  riding,  dancing,  and  all 
amusements  in  the  open  air,  contribute  to  form  and  invigorate  the 
constitution  to  a  vast  extent.  Without  exercise  in  the  open  air, 
no  rules  for  health  could  possibly  be  complete.  It  is  impossible 
to  have  vigorous  health,  or  preserve  it  long,  without  daily  exer- 
cise in  the  open  air.  It  is  most  unfortunate,  that,  in  this  coun- 
try, ladies  take  so  little  exercise  in  the  open  air,  especially  those 
who  are  well,  and  in  easy  circumstances,  who  have  the  leisure 
for  it.  Many  ladies,  during  the  long  period  of  cold  weather,  say 
nearly  seven  months  of  the  year,  hardly  go  out  at  all.  They 
stay  within,  in  heated  rooms,  taking  little  or  no  exercise,  for  many 
months.  The  effect  is  deplorable.  Debility  all  over,  loss  of 
spirits,  costiveness,  loss  of  bloom  on  their  cheeks.  The  eye  loses 
its  brightness ;  and  health  and  beauty  become  impossible  to  this 
state  of  things.  To  female  children  it  is  very  injurious.  The 
striking  contrast  between  English  ladies,  opposed  to  the  French 
and  American,  and,  in  fact,  nearly  all  other  ladies  in  the  world, 
is  owing  to  out-door  exercise  taken  daily  ;  scarcely  any  weather 
prevents  it.  Should  the  weather  be  very  inclement,  exercise  is 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  209 

taken  within-doors.  In  stormy  weather,  the  Queen  of  England 
daily  takes  exercise,  by  riding  or  walking  in  covered  buildings, 
or  terraces,  dec.,  never  omitting  exercise,  any  day  of  the  year, 
for  herself  or  children.  The  ladies  of  England  usually  enjoy 
brilliant  health.  The  very  greatness  of  England  is  intimately 
connected  with  the  out-door  exercise  of  their  females.  For  a 
fine  race  of  healthy  children  is  impossible,  when  the  mothers 
are  effeminate,  and  take  no  exercise,  or  but  little.  In  our  coun- 
try, many  ladies  exercise  and  go  out  in  summer,  and  in  the  beau- 
tiful weather  of  autumn,  that,  in  this  country,  is  unsurpassed  by 
any,  and  so  gather  a  few  roses  on  their  cheeks  ;  but  the  cold,  bad 
weather  of  our  late  autumn  usually  drives  them  in,  not  often  to  be 
seen  out  again  until  spring.  No  health  can  be  supported  under 
this  want  of  exercise.  Every  lady  should  go  out  every  day. 
Should  the  weather,  by  its  inclemency,  forbid  it,  then  she  should 
walk  or  exercise  on  a  balcony,  open  to  the  air,  should  this  be  at 
her  command — walking  one  or  two  hours.  Exercise  should  be 
taken  to  the  point  of  considerable  fatigue.  It  is  better  to  ride  or 
walk  in  the  open  air,  in  the  country  or  city,  where  the  eye  is  re- 
freshed, and  the  mind  delighted,  than  to  walk  in  a  room,  without 
these.  It  is  also  vastly  better  to  walk  and  take  exercise  in  com- 
pany than  alone.  It  is  better  for  health,  not  to  be  solitary.  But, 
either  with  or  without  society,  take  exercise.  Gardening,  and 
tending  flowers,  is  a  pleasant  and  engaging  exercise  to  some. 
Jumping  the  rope  is  a  very  pleasant  exercise,  both  for  symmetry 
and  health.  Dancing  is  the  king  and  queen  of  in-door  exercise. 
It  is  suitable  for  all  classes,  all  ages,  both  sexes.  It  is  a  most  ele- 
gant and  most  exhilarating  exercise.  It  is  one  of  the  most  anci- 
ent, and  one  of  the  most  salutary.  I  do  not  speak  of  it  as  a  dis- 
sipation, but  as  an  exhilarating  and  valuable  exercise.  Among 
the  exercises,  it  is  second  to  none.  It  is  extremely  suitable  for 
the  sedentary,  for  invalids,  and  for  consumptives.  I  have  known 
one  of  the  worst  cases  of  consumption  I  ever  knew  cured  by 
dancing  alone,  practised  daily,  for  many  months.  The  cure  was 
permanent  and  complete. 

It  is  deplorable  that  dancing  and  amusements  of  nearly  all  kinds 
should  have  fallen  under  the  ban  of  the  clergy,  and  should  be 
preached  against  as  sinful.  It  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  the 


210  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

morals  of  mankind  are  benefitted  by  forbidding  all  amusements, 
and  it  is  most  certain  the  health  of  thousands  is  sacrificed  by  it. 
Who  are  those  that  sink  earliest  into  consumption  among  ladies? 
Allow  me  to  say,  it  is  those  who  take  least  exercise,  and  refrain 
from  all  amusements, — who,  at  school,  at  church,  at  home,  are 
marked  as  models  ;  whose  looks  are  demure,  whose  walk  is 
slow,  and  whose  conversation  is  always  on  serious  subjects, — who 
most  apply  themselves  to  severe  studies,  and  protracted  applica- 
tion in  acquiring  knowledge  and  education.  Buoyancy  of  spirits, 
even  to  mirth  and  levity,  is  infinitely  better  for  health,  than  to  be 
morose.  There  is  nothing  better  for  the  lungs  than  deep,  fre- 
quent, hearty  laughter,  and  the  laugh  should  never  be  suppressed 
unless  forbidden  by  circumstances.  Laennac.  a  celebrated 
French  writer  on  consumption,  relates  a  case  that  came  under  his 
observation  in  a  convent  of  nuns  at  Paris.  He  had  witnessed  all 
the  inmates  die  three  successive  times  within  a  few  years,  except 
the  gate-keeper,  the  cook,  and  the  lady  abbess.  These  were 
obliged  to  take  exercise,  and  so  escaped  death.  Of  all  the  contriv- 
ances to  shorten  and  destroy  life,  a  convent  of  nuns  is  the  grand 
climax.  Here,  confined  without  exercise,  or  cheerful  amuse- 
ments, and  engaged  in  severe  devotions,  or  sedentary  occupa- 
tions, they  fall  into  supine  inaction.  Health,  energy^  and  activ- 
ity, all  go  together.  In  a  few  years  death  does  his  work,  and 
their  long-prayed-for,  long-sought-for  haven,  is  soon  obtained.  No 
greater  truth  was  ever  uttered,  than  that — 

"  Religion  never  was  designed 
To  make  our  pleasures  less." 

Neither  in  its  letter  or  spirit  does  our  happy  and  blessed  religion, 
— the  religion  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be 
eternal  praise  and  obedience, — anywhere  forbid  pure,  rational 
pleasures  and  gratification.  "  Use  the  things  of  this  world  as  not 
abusing  them,"  is  the  injunction  of  the  Apostle,  and  is  a  complete 
summary  of  all  the  teaching  of  the  whole  Bible  upon  this  subject. 
It  never  can  be  too  much  regretted,  that  the  American  ladies, 
at  a  very  early  period,  leave  off  all  buoyancy  in  exercise,  in 
spirits,  in  amusements,  and  consent,  before  they  are  thirty  years 
old,  to  be  old  women, — taking  little  or  no  part  in  amusements,  01 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 211 

social  pleasures,  leaving  society  to  be  regulated  by  young  ladies 
in  their  teens.  No  lady  should  ever  leave  society,  or  exercise,  or 
rational  amusements,  until  deprived  of  them  by  absolute  disease, 
or  until  the  infirmities  of  extreme  age  utterly  prevent.  But  by 
this  course,  extreme  age  may  be  attained,  whilst  its  great  infir- 
mities may  never  be  reached.  The  human  frame  is  a  machine 
that  requires  daily  exercise  in  the  open  air,  and  in  society,  as  far 
as  possible.  Without  this  it  will  fall  into  decay,  and  both  mind 
and  body  sink  into  imbecility,  whilst  those  daily  and  constantly 
employed  and  engaged,  are  constantly  and  daily  renovated,  and 
kept  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  in  perfect 
health. 

Allow  me  to  urge  upon  you  symmetry  of  the  whole  person. 
The  head  and  neck  erect,  and  strait  with  the  back  ;  the  shoulders 
thrown  back  ;  the  shoulder-blades  laying  flat  against  the  back  of 
the  chest ;  the  front  of  the  chest  round,  high  and  full ;  the  waist 
untrammelled ;  the  person  strait,  never  stooping,  save  from  the 
hip  joints  ;  the  step  elastic  and  buoyant ;  the  teeth  perfect,  pure, 
complete  and  regular ;  the  diet  wholesome,  plain,  full  and  simple. 
Exercise  daily  in  the  open  air ;  daily  recreation  and  amusement 
as  much  as  possible,  in  pleasant  and  cheerful  society  ;  the  bowels 
perfectly  regular  and  free ;  the  kidneys  unembarrassed ;  the 
person  daily  washed  with  pure,  cold  water  ;  clothing  graceful, 
appropriate,  tasteful,  light  and  sufficient :  all  these  are  entirely 
in  your  power.  Should  every  one  not  be  able  to  use  cold  water, 
use  it  tepid, — by  all  means,  use  it.  These,  I  repeat,  are  all  at 
your  command,  whether  your  means  are  ample  or  limited, — 
whether  your  lot  is  that  of  poverty  or  riches.  All  these  are  the 
servants  of  your  bidding.  They  form  those  grand  arts  of  the 
toilet,  and  of  health,  that  for  ages  have  found,  more  or  less,  a 
home  in  the  high,  princely  and  noble  families  of  Europe, — that  have 
aided  them  to  perpetuate  their  names-  and  lineage,  from  age  to 
age,  through  many  centuries,  bestowing  upon  them  an  almost 
constant  and  universal  exemption  from  the  ills,  the  frequent  cala- 
mities, and  the  devastating  diseases  which  have  continually  preyed 
upon  the  ignorant  and  consequently  ignoble  classes,  everywhere. 
These  arts,  conferring  such  superior  physical  endowments,  such 
striking  beauty,  and  so  long  continued,  have  struck  mankind  with 


212  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

awe,  and  charmed  their  admiration,  not  only  in  rude  ages,  but  in 
the  most  favored  and  enlightened  periods  of  our  own  day. 

In  1837,  I  had  the  honor  of  attending  a  ball  in  the  French  ca- 
pital, given  under  the  patronage  of  the  Duchess  of  Roxburgh. 
About  3,500  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  present,  comprising  the 
most  distinguished  English  and  French  nobility  then  in  Paris. 
Many  distinguished  English  and  French  officers,  of  the  highest 
grades.  Some  ladies  wore  ornaments  to  the  value  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Two  sons  of  Louis  Philippe  were  present.  Here 
I  had  an  opportunity  of  noticing  and  verifying  all  I  have  before 
said  of  the  connection  of  symmetry,  health  and  beauty.  Ladies 
of  sixty  hardly  looking  thirty  ;  gentlemen,  seventy,  and  scarcely 
seeming  forty.  Not  a  round-shouldered  European  in  this  assem- 
blage ;  no  lack-lustre  eyes;  no  pale-sunken  cheeks;  no  halting 
gaits  ;  no  balancing,  first  on  one  foot,  then  on  the  other.  Nearly 
all  the  ladies  wore  the  top  of  the  chest  bare,  yet  no  scarred  bosoms 
were  seen ;  no  scraggy  collar-bones  stood  out  over  the  chest, 
but  all  was  symmetry  and  grace,  presenting  the  human  machine 
in  its  fullest  symmetry  and  highest  elegance,  and  perfect  health. 
Each  lady,  besides  borrowed  ornaments,  presented  in  her  ani- 
mated countenance  three  brilliants, — brilliant  teeth,  brilliant  com- 
plexion, and  brilliant  eyes. 

My  next  lecture  to  you  will  be  upon  the  symmetry  of  tne  inter- 
nal organs  of  the  body  and  symmetry  of  mind. 


LECTURE   FIFTH. 

TO  LADIES,  ONLY. 


On  Symmetry  of  the  Internal  Organs  of  Hit  Body,  and  on  Symmetry 
of  Mind,  as  preventing"  Pulmonary  Consumption,  and  ensunng 
Long  Life. 

LADIES  : 

THE  present  lecture  will  be  upon  the  symmetry  of  the  inter- 
nal organs  of  the  body.  By  a  glance  at  plate  C,  you  will  notice 
all  these  organs  in  their  natural  and  appropriate  places.  The 
lungs,  on  each  side  of  the  chest,  from  the  collar-bones  above  to 
the  seventh  rib  below  in  front,  and  extending  much  lower  back. 
The  heart  is  in  front  between  them.  The  contents  of  the  chest 
are  separated  from  the  abdomen  by  a  floating  curtain,  called  the 
midriff.  The  right  and  left  portions  of  the  midriff  are  loose, 
and  float  upwards  into  the  chest,  every  time  we  breathe  out  the 
air  in  the  chest.  On  breathing  in  the  air,  the  midriff  of  a  person 
in  health  forms  a  floor  to  the  lungs  and  heart,  and  descends 
until  it  is  drawn  tight,  flat  and  stiff  across  the  body.  The  midriff 
is  so  arranged  as  always  to  form  rather  a  fast  support  to  the 
heart,  and  floats  below  the  lungs  on  their  emptying  out  the  air 
from  the  chest.  The  lungs  are  wedge-shaped  ;  the  small  ends 
of  the  wedges  are  uppermost,  under  the  collar-bones,  whilst  the 
base  of  the  lungs  and  vastly  the  larger  portions  are  at  the  bottom 
of  the  lungs,  and  turned  downwards  heavily  on  to  the  dia- 
phragm. When  we  stand  up,  the  lungs  hang  on  the  wind-pipes 
and  large  air-vessels,  and  on  the  larjre  blood-vessels  with  which 
they  are  tied  to  the  back-bone  behind.  The  lungs  float  down- 
wards into  the  midriff  or  floor  of  the  lungs,  and  sideways  against 
the  ribs,  every  time  we  draw  in  the  air. 

The  heart  is  also  wedge-shaped,  and  its  base  or  large  end  is 
uppermost,  whilst  its  small  end  points  downwards  and  sideways 


314  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

into  the  left  chest,  occupying  one-third  more  room  in  the  left 
chest  than  it  does  in  the  right,  measuring  from  the  centre  of  the 
breast-bone,  under  which  the  heart  is  placed,  towards  its  middle 
and  lower  part.  The  heart  floats  a  little  with  the  midriff,  but  is  held 
securely  in  its  place  by  its  attachments  to  the  lesser  midriff,  by 
its  own  case,  and  by  the  great  blood-vessels  that  come  and  go  from 
it.  The  heart  and  lungs  both,  and  all,  are  enclosed  in  the  chest, 
which  is  a  basket  of  bones,  formed  by  the  back-bone  behind,  the 
breast-bone  in  front,  and  the  ribs  that  go  from  the  back-bone  to 
the  breast-bone ;  seven  ribs  are  long,  five  short ;  the  five  lower 
ribs  are  short,  yet  all  are  so  tied  as  to  be  connected  with  the 
breast-bone.  (See  plate  B.)  This  basket  of  bones  is  entirely 
open  at  the  bottom ;  only  divided  off  from  the  abdomen  by  a 
fleshy  floating  curtain.  On  looking  into  the  abdomen  on  the 
plate,  you  notice  towards  the  left  side,  below  the  breast  and  left 
lung,  the  stomach  ;  to  the  right  of  this,  is  the  liver ;  below,  are  the 
large  and  small  bowels.  Nearly  all  the  bowels  are  floating,  and 
readily  move  up  and  down,  and  rush  out  as  quick  as  water, 
when,  on  standing,  the  walls  of  the  abdomen  are  cut  or  broken 
through.  Both  ends  of  the  large  bowel  are  tied  fast.  The  lower 
end  of  the  large  bowel  is  tied  for  some  distance  to  the  back-bone, 
and  is  thus  kept  from  floating.  It  forms  the  back  passage  through 
the  basket  of  the  hips. 

BASKET  OF  THE  HIPS.— (See  Plate  B.) 

The  basket  of  the  hips  is  placed  at  the  lower  end  of  the  waist, 
and  is  united  to  the  end  of  the  back-bone,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
small  of  the  back.  This  basket  is  open  above  and  below,  and  is 
so  placed  that  its  lower  end  opens  backwards,  and  its  upper  part 
pitches  forward.  (See  the  plate.)  By  this  shape  and  position,  in 
a  strait,  well-formed  person,  the  bowels  cannot  fall  down  through 
the  basket  of  the  hips,  but  are  stopped  on  the  bone  that  crosses 
the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen  in  front.  This  bone  in  front  con- 
nects one  side  of  the  basket  of  the  hips  with  the  other.  The  bony 
walls  of  the  basket  of  the  hips  are  very  thick,  and  very  solid  ; 
the  only  part  moveable  is  the  lower  end  of  the  back-bone*.  The 
other  parts  of  the  bony  walls  of  the  basket  of  the  hips,  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  any  power  of  being  moved,  or  stretched,  to  a 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  215 

wirger  size,  or  to  be  capable  of  being  compressed  to  a  smaller  size, 
offering  a  striking  contrast  to  the  walls  of  the  basket  of^the  chest. 
The  chest  you  can  make  as  large  as  you  please,  or  as  small,  but 
cannot  move  the  basket  of  the  hips,  save  in  a  slight  degree,  and 
never  in  any  manner  at  will.  In  young  persons,  by  a  vicious 
habit  of  sitting  in  a  very  crooked  posture,  and  long  at  a  time,  all 
bent  into  a  heap,  the  basket  of  the  hips  may  bend  from  its  union 
with  the  back-bone,  and  come  forwards  at  its  lower  parts,  so  as 
to  make  the  basket  of  the  hips  pitch  forward,  instead  of  back- 
wards. This  is  a  great  deformity,  and  often  leads  to  most  deplo- 
rable consequences,  by  allowing  the  organs  of  the  trunk  of  the 
body  to  fall  into  the  basket  of  the  hips ;  by  this  at  times  pushing 
the  wonfb  entirely  out  of  the  body,  and  if  not  soon  cured,  will  lead 
to  being,  at  least,  permanently  bed-ridden.  This  deformed  posi- 
tion of  the  basket  of  the  hips,  always.prevents  being  strait  in  per- 
son, or  walking  well,  or  standing  erect.  It  is  a  great  misfortune, 
and  can  always  be  prevented  by  sitting  erect  and  strait,  when 
you  do  indulge  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  by  never  sitting  all  in  a 
heap,  and  much  bent,  and  stooping.  (See  plate  K.)  The  evil  is 
aggravated  by  sitting  long  bent  over  on  a  hard  seat,  as  is  often 
seen  with  girls  at  school.  The  basket  of  the  hips  in  females  is 
much  broader  than  in  males,  and  is  larger,  and  will  hold  much 
more  than  in  males,  all  other  things  being  equal. 

CONTENTS  OF  THE  BASKET  OF  THE  HIPS. 

The  basket  of  the  hips  contains  some  of  the  most  important  or- 
gans of  the  body.  In  front,  behind  the  cross-bone,  first,  is  the 
bladder  ;  next,  behind  this,  is  the  womb  and  its  appendages  ; 
behind  this  is  the  back  passage,  or  lower  end  of  the  large  bowel. 
The  large  bowel,  in  its  whole  length  through  the  basket  of  the 
hips,  is  tied  to  the  back- bone,  or  what  represents  it.  The  front 
passage  only  extends  from  the  upper  part  of  the  womb  outwards, 
when  the  womb  is  perfectly  in  its  natural  position.  (See  plates  S 
and  O,  for  a  perfect  view  of  all  these  organs  in  their  natural  posi- 
tions.) 

THE  KIDNEYS. 
The  kidneys  are  not  in  the  basket  of  the  hips,  but  above  it,  in 


216  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

the  small  of  the  back,  each  side  of  the  back-bone.  Their  office 
is  to  separate  the  surplus  water,  and  salts,  and  earths,  from  the 
blood.  There  is  a  small  chamber  in  each  kidney,  into  which  the 
water  is  first  poured.  From  the  chamber  of  each  kidney  a  pipe 
passes  downwards,  behind  the  bowels,  to  the  bladder,  and  conveys 
all  the  water  from  the  kidneys  to  the  bladder.  (See  plate  S.) 

THE  WOMB. 

The  womb  is  situated  between  the  bladder  and  back  passage, 
and  at  the  top  of  the  front  passage.  The  womb  has  the  shape 
and  figure  of  a  pear, — it  is  wedge-shaped,  with  its  large  end  up- 
permost, and  its  lower,  or  small  end,  pointing  downwards.  Its 
base  is  upwards ;  its  lower  end  extends  into  the  top  of  the  front 
passage  (see  plates  S  and  O.)  The  womb. is  kept  in  its  place  by 
the  soft  parts  around  it,  and  by  having  no  pressure  at  all  on  its 
top  part. 

OVARIES. 

On  each  side  of  the  womb,  and  connected  with  it  by  two  pipes, 
are  the  ovaries,  two  balls  of  the  size  of  a  small  egg.  If  the  ovaries, 
or  the  pipes  that  lead  from  them  to  the  womb,  are  diseased,  or 
obstructed,  so  that  nothing  can  pass  from  the  ovaries  to  the  womb, 
the  female  cannot  become  a  mother.  (See  plate  S,  figs.  6-6.) 

SYMMETRY  OF  THE  INTERNAL  ORGANS  OF 
THE   BODY. 

I  have  before  described  the  belts  that  cover  the  front  and  sides 
of  the  abdomen  (see  plate  E.) 

The  trunk  of  the  body  is  a  species  of  round  box.  Imagine  a 
roundish  box,  the  size  of  the  trunk  of  the  body,  and  that  it  is  laid 
down  flat,  and  stowed  full  of  goods,  and  that  half  its  lid  is  made 
solid  and  strong  as  a  board,  and  the  other  half  of  its  lid  is  made 
of  cloth.  Now,  set  tins-trunk  up  on  end,  the  cloth  part  of  its  co- 
ver being  at  the  lower  part,  all  the  goods  will  at  once  drag  down 
to  the  lower  part,  and  push  out  the  cloth  cover :  hence,  you  will 
see  how  solid  and  firm  the  cloth  cover  must  be,  to  keep  up  all  the 
goods,  and  not  burst  out  below.  (See  plate  O.)  This  is  a  fair 
parallel  of  the  formation  and  condition  of  the  trunk  of  the  body. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


217 


Plate  O. 


Plate  P. 


REFERENCES. 

O— Side  view  of  most  of  the  organs  of  the 

body  in  their  natural  situation. 
C— Elevated  midriff,  or  floor  of  the  lungs. 
8— The  stomach.    G— The  bladder. 
H— The  front  passage  in  the  basket  of  the 

hips. 
I— Back  passage  through  the  basket  of  the 

hips— it  is  the  lower  portion  of  the  large 

bowel.    X— Floating  bowels. 


REFERENCES. 

P — Side  view  of  most  of  the  important  tft* 
gans  of  the  body,  which  have  fallen 
down  from  a  relaxation  of  the  abdomi 
nal  belts. 

C— Midriff.     S— Stomach,  fallen  down. 

G — The  abdomen  hanging  down. 

H— The  bladder.    J— The  womb. 

X— Floating  bowels. 


All  the  organs  of  the  trunk  of  the  body,  such  as  the  lungs.,  heart, 
liver,  stomach,  and  bowels,  are  kept  in  their  places  by  the  ab- 
dominal belts  that  enclose  and  form  the  walls  of  the  abdomen. 
Now  then,  if  these  belts,  or  walls,  become  relaxed,  or  pushed 
10 


218  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  uNLY. 

out,  the  effect  is  to  cause,  on  standing  up,  u  dislocation,  or 
dragging  down,  more  or  less,  out  of  their  places,  of  the  lungs, 
heart,  stomach,  liver,  bowels,  womb,  ovaries,  and  back  passage, 
producing  the  following  effects,  more  or  less  aggravated,  as  the 
abdominal  belts  are  more  or  less  relaxed,  taking  every  degree  of 
mischief,  from  slight  inconvenience  to  instant  death.  (See 
plate  P.) 

Effects  of  a  relaxation  or  giving  way  of  the  abdominal  belts 
upon  the  lungs. 

The  first  effect  is  to  take  away  from  the  floor  of  the  lungs  their 
support,  and  they  drag  downwards,  causing  w.heezing  breathing, 
shortness  of  breath,  asthma,  a  hacking  cough,  great  difficulty, 
when  standing  up,  to  fill  the  lungs  with  air,  a  sense  of  great 
weakness  and  weariness  under  the  collar-bones,  a  strong  incli- 
nation to  bring  forward  the  shoulders  upon  the  chest,  and  to  stoop, 
on  standing  or  sitting, — a  feeling  of  hollowness  or  emptiness  at 
the  top  of  the  chest,  great  difficulty  to  get  the  breath,  on  walking 
fast,  or  on  going  up-hill,  or  up-stairs,  or  on  any  sudden  exertion, 
— running  is  impossible. 

Bleeding  from  the  lungs  is  another  effect  of  falling  of  the 
bowels,  and  relaxation  of  the  abdominal  belts,  or  coverings.  I 
have  often  witnessed  bleeding  from  the  lungs  in  these  cases. 
Another  effect,  in  many  cases,  is  a  collapse,  or  closing  all  up  of 
the  air-cells  of  the  upper  parts  of  the  lungs,  and  a  shrinking  up 
of  the  tops  of  the  lungs,  and  thus  allowing  a  deposit  of  tubercles, 
and  formatioa  of  pulmonary  consumption.  Tall,  thin  ladies, 
with  hardly  any  development  of  abdomen,  are  very  often  subject 
to  falling  bowels,  when  very  few  would  imagine  it  possible.  In 
proof  of  this,  I  have  once  before  mentioned  the  stoppage  of  the 
progress  of  consumption  when  a  lady  is  in  the  family- way,  and 
its  most  rapid  progress  after  the  child  is  born.  This  leads  me  to 
remark,  how  carefully  a  consumptive  lady  should  be  supported, 
on  getting  up,  after  the  birth  of  a  child.  I  will  mention  two  or 
three  cases  of  consumption  produced  by  falling  of  the  bowels. 

In  September,  1848,  I  was  requested  to  see  a  young  married 
lady,  for  consumption.  I  found  a  tall,  elegant  young  lady,  who 
had  been  very  delicately  brought  up  ;  had  been  married  thirteen 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  219 

months.  At  the  end  of  ten  months,  she  gave  birth  to  a  daughter, 
and  seemed  doing  extremely  well.  Three  weeks  after  the  birth 
of  her  child,  she  was  allowed  to  leave  her  bed  without  sufficient 
support,  and  went  fifty  miles,  to  visit  her  mother.  The  want  of 
support  to  the  bowels  allowed  the  lungs  to  drag  down  ;  bleeding 
from  the  right  lung  began.  I  saw  her  twelve  weeks  after  this, 
in  the  last  stages  of  hopeless  consumption.  In  those  females  who 
have  never  borne  children,  the  abdomen  may  remain  very  flat, 
and  yet  the  bowels  fall  down  more  or  less ;  but  with  ladies  who 
have  borne  children,  the  abdominal  belts  become  most  enor- 
mously stretched  and  extended.  After  child-birth,  they  usually, 
in  a  few  days  or  weeks,  return  to  a  smaller  size,  but  rarely  as  fiat 
as  before.  Woe  to  the  unfortunate  consumptive  mother,  who, 
after  child-birth,  is  allowed  to  rise  too  soon  from  her  bed,  or  is 
not  perfectly  supported,  when  she  does  get  up.  In  a  great  many 
cases  of  weak  ladies,  the  abdominal  belts  never  go  back,  to  be 
small  and  flat,  as  they  ought  to  be  ;  and,  from  the  birth  of  a  child, 
or  a  miscarriage,  they  date  ill  health  ever  after.  Nearly  all 
cases  of  bed-ridden  ladies  are  made  so  from  this  cause.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1844, 1  visited  a  lady  at  Glastonbury,  Ct.,  who  had  a  child 
eighteen  months  old.  The  mother  could  never  get  up  afterwards. 
At  the  end  of  one  year,  she  fell  into  consumption,  and  was  in 
its  last  stages  when  I  saw  her. 

In  April,  1845,  I  was  called  to  visit  a  young  lady,  at  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island.  She  was  extremely  beautiful  and  inclined 
to  be  fleshy.  Soon  after  her  marriage,  she  travelled  with  her  hus- 
band through  several  of  the  western  states,  and  during  the  journey 
rode  seventy  miles  in  a  stage,  on  a  very  rough  road.  On  return- 
ing to  Providence,  she  soon  found  herself  unable  to  walk,  and  had 
been  confined  eleven  months  to  her  bed  and  room.  The  morning 
of  the  day  I  saw  her,  she  was  taken  with  bleeding  at  her  lungs. 
She  told  me  the  journey  to  the  western  country,  and  especially 
the  stage-coach,  travelling  over  the  rough  roads,  seemed  to  shake 
and  jar  her  inside  almost  to  pieces,  and  that  she  had  never  re- 
covered  from  the  fatigue  of  the  journey.  If  her  bowels  had  have 
been  well  supported,  all  these  dreadful  effects  of  her  journey  would 
have  been  entirely  prevented.  She  had  never  been  in  a  family 
way.  I  think  nearly  one-third  of  all  consumptions  in  females  are 


320  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

induced  by  falling  of  the  bowels,  and  thus  leading  to  a  dislocation 
and  dragging  down  of  the  lungs. 

WEAKNESS  AND  LOSS  OF  VOICE  FROM  FALLING 
OF  THE  BOWELS,  OR  WEAKNESS  OF  THE  ABDO- 
MINAL BELTS. 

Weakness  of  voice,  and,  at  times,  total  loss  of  voice,  arise  from 
relaxation  of  the  abdominal  belts  and  consequent  falling  of  the 
bowels.  In  this  case,  the  lungs  do  not  fill,  the  wind-pipe  is 
dragged  down,  and  weak  voice  and  sore  throat  are  the  conse- 
quence. The  person  cannot  sing  or  talk  long,  or  read  aloud,  or 
speak  in  public,  without  excessive  fatigue,  and  very  soon  cannot 
speak  at  all,  unless  relieved.  A  great  many  females  and  female 
teachers,  who  stand  long  and  talk  much,  from  weakness  across 
the  abdomen,  lose  their  voices,  become  hoarse,  take  a  sore  throat, 
and  if  not  relieved,  are  soon  forced  to  leave  their  occupation. 

In  March,  1845,  I  was  consulted  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
by  a  very  accomplished  lady,  who  was  a  teacher  in  a  large  school, 
but  for  four  months  past  had  been  forced  to  leave  her  school, 
because  of  sore  throat  and  great  weakness  of  voice.  She  called 
on  me,  and  asked  me  if  I  could  relieve  her  in  four  days,  because, 
if  I  could,  she  could  return  to  her  school  at  that  time.  I  had  the 
extreme  pleasure,  by  God's  blessing,  to  restore  this  lady  to  her 
school  in  four  days,  and  to  good  health  in  a  short  time.  (See  her 
letter  to  me.) 

PALPITATION  OF  THE  HEART. 

Several  causes  may  produce  palpitation  of  the  heart.  One  of 
these  is  falling  of  the  bowels,  &c.  On  taking  much  exertion,  or 
walking,  or  sitting  long  in  church,  or  being  in  a  crowd,  if  weak 
across  the  bowels,  palpitation  of  the  heart  will  come  on  in  ladies 
of  all  ages.  In  July,  1844,  I  was  consulted  at  Weathersfield, 
Connecticut,  by  two  ladies,  for  palpitation  of  the  heart,  from  which 
both  suffered  greatly.  One  wras  a  married  lady,  mother  of  eleven 
children  ;  she  was  short  and  very  fleshy.  The  other  was  a  young 
single  lady,  about  seventeen  years  old,  tall  and  very  thin.  Both 
bad  palpitation  from  the  same  cause,  and  both  were  cured  by 
abdominal  support. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY,  221 

FAINTING  FITS. 

Many  ladies,  more  especially  young  ones,  are  liable,  on  taking 
much  exertion,  to  be  suddenly  overcome  and  to  faint ;  also,  to 
faint  in  church,  or  in  a  crowd.  This,  in  nearly  all  cases,  is  pro- 
duced  by  abdominal  weakness.  The  heart  is  not  well  supported, 
and  readily  stops  its  action  for  a  short  time.  This  explains  why 
a  lady  faints  on  standing,  walking,  or  sitting  up,  that  never  faints 
whilst  laying  down. 

SINKING,  ALL  GONE  AT  THE  PIT  OF  THE  STOMACH, 
FROM  FALLING  OF  THE  BOWELS. 

Many  ladies,  and  especially  those  who  stand  much,  experience 
a  most  distressed  and  sinking  feeling  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach — 
a  feeling  of  being  all  gone  there,  a  place  that  seems  quite  empty, 
and  that  nothing  will  fill.  Eating  a  full  meal  will,  for  a  short 
time,  usually  stop  this  feeling,  but  it  soon  returns,  and  the  lady 
feels  as  if  she  had  eaten  nothing,  and  a  faint,  exhausted  feeling 
takes  away  all  her  spirits  or  ambition  to  do  any  thing.  She  ex- 
periences  a  sense  of  great  weakness  at  th,e  pit  of  the  stomach, 
and  a  disposition  to  stoop.  Stooping,  at  first,  seems  to  relieve  her 
a  little,  and  she  stoops  more  and  more,  until  nearly  bent  double. 
I  saw  a  tall  lady,  a  few  months  ago,  who  began  stooping,  as  I 
have  said,  and  continued  the  habit  until  she  was  bent  nearly  dou- 
ble, bending  from  her  hips  so  as  to  carry  her  head  and  chest  and 
abdomen  as  low  as  her  hips,  producing  a  most  distressing  defor- 
mity. In  other  cases  the  lady  feels  as  if  cut  in  two  at  the  pit 
of  the  stomach.  At  other  times  this  weakness  or  sinking  feeling 
is  experienced  in  the  side,  either  right  or  left,  or  both.  If  this 
weakness  occurs  on  one  side  only,  the  lady  will  stoop  more  or 
less  to  that  side.  This  great  weakness  and  sinking  at  the  pit 
of  the  stomach  and  sides,  is  usually  much  aggravated  on  walk- 
ing or  lifting,  or  on  taking  any  "active  exercise.  The  lady  is  soon 
obliged  to  lay  down,  to  recover  her  breath  and  strength. 

At  other  times  the  weakness  is  felt  in  front,  opposite  the  hips, 
below  the  middle  of  the  stomach. 

All  this  is  perfectly  cured  by  abdominal  support.  I  have  wit- 
nessed and  cured  a  vast  many  cases  of  this  kind. 


222  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

This  weakness  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach  often  leads  to  dyspep- 
sia or  indigestion  of  the  food.  The  food  often,  after  eating,  lays 
very  heavy  ;  feels  a  load  ;  at  other  times  the  stomach  bloats,  and 
the  lady  feels  as  if  she  could  not  breathe.  At  other  times  the  food 
sours  in  the  stomach  sooner  or  later  after  eating,  and  many  kinds 
of  f}od  cannot  be  eaten.  In  others,  in  a  longer  or  shorter  time 
after  eating,  distressing  pain  is  felt  in  the  stomach. 

CHRONIC  DIARRHCEA. 

In  some  cases,  falling  of  the  bowels  from  a  relaxation  of  the 
abdominal  belts,  will  produce  a  constant  diarrhoea  or  looseness  of 
the  bowels,  more  or  less  urgent,  which  in  many  cases  induces 
great  debility.  The  stomach  participates,  more  or  less,  in  the 
weakness,  and  the  food  badly  digested  passes  into  the  bowels  and 
fermento  there,  causing  flatulency  and  looseness.  A  vast  many 
of  these  cases  are  cured  by  abdominal  support. 

COSTIVENESS. 

In  some  cases,  falling  of  the  bowels  causes  them  to  be  extreme- 
ly sluggish,  and  acting  very  slowly  indeed,  so  as  to  seem  almost 
as  if  dead  ;  often  having  no  passage  for  days  together,  and  fre- 
quently a^ rumbling  and  moving  of  wind  in  the  bowels,  a  bloat- 
ing of  them,  &c.,  &c.  Costiveness  is  usually  very  much  helped, 
and  often  entirely  cured,  by  abdominal  support. 

LIVER  COMPLAINT,  CAUSED  BY   FALLING  OF  THE 
BOWELS.-— (See  Plate  Q.) 

The  liver  is  very  heavy  and  solid,  and  strongly  inclines  to  drag 
down,  and  fall  low  in  the  abdomen,  if  the  abdominal  belts  are  not 
strong  and  firm.  I  have  known  one  case  of  a  person  who  had 
very  weak  bowels.  By  riding  on  horseback,  without  having  pro- 
per abdominal  support,  the  liver  broke  partly  in  two,  and  the  person 
died  in  a  few  hours.  This  remarkable  case  I  shall  relate  in  my 
lecture  to  the  gentlemen.  Jarring,  and  dragging  down  of  the 
liver,  will  always,  more  or  less,  disturb  it,  and  often  causes 
if  to  secre'e  a  great  deal  of  bile  ;  at  other  times,  very  little  ;  at 
other  times,  the  natural  position  of  the  liver  is  changed,  and  the 
bile  does  not  get  out  of  the  gall-bladder  and  liver  as  readily  as  it 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  223 

should  do,  and  gall-stones  are  formed  in  the  gall-bladder,  thus 
producing  jaundice,  and  almost  every  form  of  liver  complaint. 
All  these  cases  should  receive  our  earliest  attention  ;  and  if  any 
weakness  of  the  abdominal  belts  is  suspected,  abdominal  support 
should  at  once  be  employed. 

PAIN   IN    THE  SIDE    AND  BREAST,  PRODUCED  BY 
FALLING  OF  THE  BOWELS. 

A  vast  many  cases  of  pain  in  the  side  are  caused  by  weak- 
ness and  relaxation  of  the  abdominal  belts.  Pain  in  the  breast 
is  also  produced  by  the  same  cause.  I  have  witnessed  such  a 
vast  number  of  cases  of  this  kind,  that  I  think  two-thirds  of  the 
instances  of  pain  ,in  the  side  and  breast  in  ladies  arise  from  a 
falling  of  the  bowels.  When  pain  in  the  breast,  or  either,  or 
both  sides,  is  occasioned  by  weakness  of  the  abdominal  belts,  and 
consequent  falling  of  the  bowels,  it  is  rarely  much  helped  by 
blistering,  or  setons,  or  issues,  or  sores,  but  is  constantly  apt  to 
return  in  a  short  time  after  being  stopped  by  any  of  these  reme- 
dies. In  those  cases,  the  only  permanent  cure  is  derived  from 
abdominal  support.  I  have  cured  cases  of  pain  in  the  side,  of 
many  years  standing,  after  repeated  bleeding,  blistering,  setons, 
emetic  tartar  sores,  &c.,  had  failed  entirely  to  remove  the  pain. 
In  fine,  where  the  abdominal  muscles,  or  belts,  are  much  relaxed, 
or  dragged  down,  all  their  upper  ends,  or  attachments,  are  more 
or  less  liable  to  pain. 

WEAKNESS,  PAIN  AND  HEAT  IN  THE  BACK  AND 
SPINE,  PRODUCED  BY  WEAKNESS  OF  THE  ABDO- 
MINAL BELTS,  AND  DRAGGING  DOWN  OF  THE 
BOWELS. 

By  looking  at  plates  B  and  A,  you  will  notice,  that  for  a  con- 
siderable distance  the  small  of  the  back  has  no  ribs  going  from  the 
spine,  by  which  it  is  strengthened,  but  that  it  consists  of  one  co- 
lumn of  moveable  bones,  and  the  ends  of  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  abdominal  belts  are  tied  to  it ;  so  that  in  this  way  the  spine 
of  the  small  of  the  back  is  obliged  to  bear  up  all  the  contents  of 
the  abdomen.  In  a  strait  person,  who  does  not  stoop  much,  this 
weight  is  but  little  ;  but  in  a  person  who  stoops  much,  and  whose 


234  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

abdominal  belts  are  relaxed,  it  is  greatly  felt,  producing  great 
pain  in  the  small  of  the  back,  that  may  extend  up  the  spine,  to 
the  neck,  causing  heat  in  the  spine,  and  soreness,  and  every 
symptom  of  a  true  spinal  disease,  in  its  earlier  and  milder  forms. 
Abdominal  support  in  all  these  cases  is  required.  I  would  here 
remark,  that  the  abdominal  support  should  perfectly  relieve  the 
spine,  and  not  bear  on  it,  or  cover  it,  or  heat  it  at  all  ;  but  the 
pads  should  go  up  on  the  ribs,  and  down  on  the  hip  bones,  so  as  to 
completely  relieve  the  spine  of  any  pressure  or  swaddling  what- 
ever. Some  of  the  worst  spine  diseases  I  ever  saw,  were  pro- 
duced  by  pads  of  trusses,  and  supporters,  resting  in  the  small  of 
the  back,  and  pressing  on  the  spine. 

GRAVEL  PRODUCED  BY  FALLING  OF  THE 
BOWELS,  &c. 

By  looking  at  plate  S,  you  will  see  the  position  of  the  kidneys ; 
each  side  of  the  spine,  just  above  the  point  of  the  hips,  and  be- 
hind all  the  other  contents  of  the  abdomen.  You  will  notice, 
also,  two  pipes  that  go,  one  from  each  kidney,  forwards  and 
downwards,  behind  the  floating  bowels,  and  down  into  the  basket 
of  the  hips,  to  the  back  of  each  side  of  the  bladder.  These 
pipes,  five  to  eight  inches  long,  parry  the  water  from  the 
chamber  of  each  kidney  to  the  bladder.  Now,  then,  when  the 
floating  bowels  roll  downwards,  they  often  fall  upon  these  pipes, 
and  close  them,  more  or  less,  so  that  the  water  is  prevented  from 
passing  into  the  bladder.  This  throws  it  back  into  the  chambers 
of  the  kidneys,  and  soon  fills  up  the  kidneys.  The  water  usually 
has  salts,  and  earths,  and  acids,  &c.,  which  it  holds  very  lightly 
in  solution.  These  salts,  when  the  water  stands  for  iany  length 
of  time,  soon  separate  from  the  water,  and  fall  down.  This 
you  can  daily  see  in  the  chamber-vessels.  These  earths,  in  a 
short  time,  will  glue  together,  and  form  masses,  more  or  less 
large,  from  the  size  of  grains  of  fine  sand,  to  lumps  that  weigh 
several  ounces.  At  times,  all  the  walls  of  the  chambers  of  the 
kidneys,  and  the  pipes  that  carry  the  water  from  them  to  the 
bladder,  are  encrusted  over  with  this  sand.  When  this  earthy 
matter  is  in  the  form  of  fine  sand,  it  is  called  gravel.  If  it 
cements  into  masses  larger  than  small  peas,  it  is  called  stone. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  <J2S 

The  pipes  that  carry  the  water  from  the  kidneys  to  the  bladder, 
are  called  the  ureters ;  they  have  no  popular  name,  that  I  have 
ever  heard  of.  When  the  ureters  are  obstructed,  and  the  water 
thrown  back  into  the  kidneys,  its  earliest  effect  is  to  cause  great 
heat  in  the  small  of  the  back,  and  at  times,  great  soreness  each 
side  of  the  spine,  just  above  the  hip.  Sometimes  almost  feeling 
as  if  in  the  hip,  and  even  lameness  in  the  hip  will  at  times  take 
place.  If  only  one  pipe  is  obstructed,  one  kidney  only  will  bo 
affected.  Gravel  is  one  of  the  most  painful  diseases  to  which 
we  are  liable.  Sometimes  pieces  of  stone  will  pass  from  the 
kidneys  along  the  water-pipes  to  the  bladder,  and,  if  large, 
usually  causing  the  most  distressing  and  insufferable  pain  to 
which  we  are  liable.  The  sufferer  then  is  said  to  have  fits  of 
gravel.  More  usually,  the  gravel  passes  in  the  form  of  white 
and  red  sand,  which  in  a  short  time  falls  down  to  the  bottom  of 
the  chamber-dish,  or  rests  on  its  sides.  Along  with  the  sand, 
more  or  less,  is  often  seen  quantities  of  thick,  soft,  soapy-looking 
matter,  or  mucus,  that  also  settles  to  the  bottom  of  the  dish.  At 
times  the  water  is  very  thick,  and  scanty ;  at  other  times,  for 
longer  or  shorter  periods,  the  urine  is  nearly  white,  and  very 
much  of  it,  and  its  quantity  causes  great  weakness  in  some 
ladies ;  occasionally  great  heat  and  scalding  are  felt  in  passing 
water,  and  a  frequent  inclination  to  do  so,  and  sometimes,  but 
rarely,  the  water  cannot  be  retained  but  a  short  time,  or  passes 
off  involuntarily.  Sometimes  the  water  is  brown  or  dark 
colored,  and  has  a  bad  smell,  and  stains  the  line-n.  Gravel 
occurs  in  all  ages  and  conditions,  from  infancy  to  extreme  age. 
Frequently  sudden  stoppages  of  the  water  occurs,  and  nono 
passes  for  hours,  and  even  days,  causing  horrible  pain  and  great 
danger. 

Gravel,  in  some  ladies,  produces,  if  much  aggravated,  the  most 
distressing  weakness  and.  fever  in  the  small  of  the  back,  so  as 
wholly  to  prevent  walking,  and  to  confine  the  lady  to  her  bed  for 
months,  and  even  years.  In  July,  1845,  I  was  consulted  at  Fall 
River,  in  Massachusetts,  by  Mrs.  Mary  F.  Gardner,  (see  her  letter, 
Case  lit.) :  she  had  been  confined  to  her  bed  four  months,  unable  to 
walk  or  stand,  nor  could  she  rise  from  bed  without  assistance. 
In  fact,  having  to  be  lifted  entirely  out  on  a  sheet.  She  had  fall- 
10* 


226  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

ing  of  the  womb  and  bowels,  and,  with  it,  very  bad  gravel.  She 
had  consulted  several  eminent  physicians,  without  obtaining  relief. 
1  gave  her  her  remedies,  and  saw  her  twice.  In  three  months, 
she  was  perfectly  cured.  Gravel  is  easily  cured  ;  in  some  per- 
sons, it  requires  a  perseverance  in  the  use  of  suitable  remedies 
for  several  months.  It  is  a  dangerous  disease  for  consumptive 
persons,  as  I  have  mentioned  in  another  place.  I  do  not  recol- 
lect ever  to  have  met  a  case  of  gravel,  however  aggravated,  that 
I  did  not  cure,  when  my  remedies  were  faithfully  used,  and  per- 
severed  in,  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time. 

Having  now  referred  to  most  of  those  diseases  in  the  trunk  of 
the  body,  that,  at  times,  arise  from  falling  of  the  bowels,  induced 
by  relaxation  of  the  abdominal  belts,  I  will  proceed  to  notice  some 
diseases  of  the  organs  or  parts  in  the  basket  of  the  hips.  The 
first  of  these  I  will  notice  is, 

PILES. 

The  disease  called  piles  has  its  seat  at  or  near  the  lower  ex- 
tremity  of  the  back  passage.  Rarely  does  it  extend  up  the  pas- 
sage more  than  one  or  two  inches.  I  am  disposed  to  think  that 
piles,  in  nearly  all  cases,  arise  from  falling  of  the  bowels.  By 
referring  to  the  plate  S,  you  will  see  that  the  large  bowel,  just  as 
it  enters  the  basket  of  the  hips,  is  tied  to  the  back-bone,  and  all 
its  course  through  the  basket  of  the  hips  is  strait  and  smooth, 
and  tied  nearly  its  whole  length  to  the  solid  bone  :  it  is  called  the 
strait  bowel,  and  forms  the  back  passage  through  the  basket  of 
the  hips.  The  bowels,  when  they  fall  down,  in  a  great  many 
cases,  fall  directly  upon  the  large  bowel,  where  it  is  tied  to  the 
back- bone,  and  by  pressing  upon  it  prevent  the  blood  from  re- 
turning up  the  large  bowel.  You  will  understand  in  a  moment, 
how  this  can,  and  does  take  place,  by  tying  a  piece  of  thread 
tightly  around  the  finger;  in  a  short  time  you  will  notice  that  the 
end  of  the  finger  swells,  and  is  soon  almost  ready  to  burst.  Should 
you  allow  the  string  to  remain  long  on  the  finger,  blood  would  be 
seen  oozing  out  from  under  the  nail,  and  inflammation  and  a  dread* 
ful  sore  would  be  the  consequence.  Exactly  in  this  way  piles  are 
produced.  Should  a  person  have  any  humor  in  the  blood,  such 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  227 

as  scrofula  or  salt  rheum,  it  might  settle  on  the  part  affected  by 
the  piles,  and  in  such  a  case  would  greatly  aggravate  the  piles, 
and  make  them  vastly  worse  than  they  otherwise  would  have 
been.  Ladies  in  a  family-way  are  often  cruelly  afflicted  with 
piles,  because  the  womb  falls  on  the  upper  part  of  the  back  pas- 
sage, and  prevents  the  return  of  the  blood,  as  I  have  before  ex- 
plained. Piles  are  a  very  disagreeable  disease,  and  often  are  so 
bad  as  to  greatly  injure  health,  and  in  this  way  predispose  to 
consumption.  At  times,  great  quantities  of  blood  will  be  poured 
out,  so  that  the  sufferer  is  threatened  with  death  from  this  cause. 
Most  disagreeable  itching  is  often  produced.  I  have  never  yet 
seen  a  case  of  piles  I  could  not  cure.  It  may  be  cured  tempo- 
rarily, for  months,  or  even  years,  by  an  ointment  or  by  internal 
medicines  ;  but  a  permanent  cure  is  perfectly  insured,  by  perfect 
abdominal  support.  Piles  should  always  be  cured,  and  not  al- 
lowed to  break  down  the  general  health,  and  thus  lead  to  other 
diseases. 

Both  internal  or  blind  piles,  and  external,  arise  from  the  same 
causes. 

FALLING  OF  THE  LARGE  BOWEL. 

Falling  of  the  large  bowel,  or  back  passage,  at  times  takes 
place,  and  is  most  unpleasant,  and  frequently  very  dangerous.  I 
have  known  one  most  distressing  death  from  this  cause,  in  a 
single  lady  of  thirty. five  years  old.  The  bowel  will,  at  times, 
fall  very  much  out  of  the  body.  A  perfect  cure  is  obtained  by 
proper  abdominal  support.  In  severe  cases,  ointments  are  also 
required  for  a  short  time,  to  give  strength  to  the  bowel,  so  that  it 
will  stay  up  in  its  place. 

PAINS  'IN  THE  LIMBS,  PRODUCED  BY  FALLING  OF 
THE  BOWELS. 

The  bowels  falling  down,  will  often  press  upon  the  great  nerves 
that  go  out  of  the  basket  of  the  hips,  and  so  down  the  lower  limbs, 
&c.  (See  plate  V.)  I  was  consulted,  two  years  ago,  by  a 
middle-aged  lady  in  Connecticut,  for  most  distressing  pains  in  her 
limbs,  occurring  on  walking  or  standing  long,  or  sitting  for  any 
length  of  time.  Occasionally  these  pains  were  all  but  insupport 


828-  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

able,  obliging  her  to  lay  down,  and  have  the  limbs  rubbed  for 
hours  together,  before  the  circulation  would  return,  and  the  pain 
leave  the  limbs.  She  was  cured  in  less  than  one  week  by  abdo- 
minal support. 

SWELLING  OF  THE  LIMBS,  AND,  MORE  OR  LESS, 
DROPSY  IN  THE  FEET,  BY  FALLING  OF  THE 
BOWELS. 

By  referring  to  plate  V,  you  will  see  the  large  veins  that  come 
up  from  the  lower  extremities,  and  pass  through  the  basket  of  the 
hips.  Now,  when  the  abdominal  belts  are  relaxed,  and  the  float- 
ing bowels  fall  down,  they  occasionally  fall  upon  the  large  veins 
that  come  up  from  the  lower  limbs.  The  effect  of  this  obstruc- 
tion, even  when  slight,  in  some  persons,  is  to  cause  greater  or  less 
swelling  of  the  feet  and  legs.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  feet 
of  a  great  many  ladies  swell,  on  standing  or  walking  for  any 
length  of  time.  I  was  consulted  in  August,  1844,  by  a  lady  in 
Weathersfield,  Connecticut,  on  account  of  great  swelling  of  her 
feet  and  ancles,  that  occurred  on  standing  or  walking  for  any 
length  of  time.  She  was  perfectly,  and  entirely,  and  perma- 
nently cured  in  a  short  time,  by  wearing  an  abdominal  supporter. 

SWELLINGS  OF  THE  VEINS,  OR  WHAT  ARE  CALLED 
VARICOSE  VEINS. 

The  same  causes  that  produce  swellings  in  the  ancles  and  feet, 
&c.,  will,  in  some  ladies,  though  more  rarely,  produce  swellings, 
greater  or  less,  of  the  veins  of  the  legs  and  feet.  The  veins,  in 
some  persons,  in  place  of  being  the  size  of  a  knitting-needle,  or 
a  little  larger,  attain  the  size  of  a  large  goose-quill,  and  become 
hard,  and  run  together  in  knots,  feeling  to  the  fingers  like 
bunches  of  worms.  These  swellings  are  disagreeable,  and  at 
times  dangerous.  Instances  have  been  known  of  these  vessels 
bursting,  and  the  persons  bleeding  to  death.  Abdominal  support 
is  a  preventive,  and  a  cure  in  the  early  stages. 

BAD  SORES  ON  THE  LEGS,  &c. 

At  times,  very  large,  obstinate,  running  sores  will  occur  on  one 
ex  both  ancie%  or  feet,  or  legs.  These  sores  arise  from  the  same 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES   ONLY.  229 

cause,  in  a  great  many  cases, — which  is  a  stoppage  of  the  blood 
ascending  through  the  abdomen.  These  sores  can  always  be 
cured  by  suitable  remedies,  joined  with  abdominal  support. 

INCONTINENCE  OF  THE  URINE,  OR  INABILITY  TO 
RETAIN  THE  WATER  FOR  ANY  LENGTH  OF 
TIME,  FROM  FALLING  OF  THE  BOWELS,  &c. 

By  referring,  for  one  moment,  to  plate  S,  you  will  see  how 
easily,  in  some  cases,  the  bowels  may  fall  down,  so  as  to  press 
upon  the  bladder,  and,  in  this  way,  make  the  bladder  tender  and 
irritable,  and  so  reduce  its  size  that  it  can  hold  very  little  water, 
thus  obliging  the  sufferer  to  pass  water  every  few  moments,  or 
causing  it  to  pass  off  in  drops,  or  suddenly,  in  an  involuntary 
manner,  &c.,  &c.  This  unpleasant  state  of  things  occurs,  in 
some  cases,  with  ladies  who  are  quite  young.  Abdominal  sup- 
port, with  suitable  medical  remedies,  will  cure  this  truly  morti- 
fying trouble  in  a  very  short  time. 

STONE  IN  THE  BLADDER. 

I  have  before  explained  to  you  how  falling  of  the  bowels  will, 
at  times,  produce  gravel,  or  cause  it  to  form  in  the  kidneys, 
water-pipes  and  bladder.  Falling  of  the  bowels,  by,  stopping  the 
water  and  making  it  thick,  will  often  take  a  part  in  causing  stone 
in  the  bladder,  with  all  its  distressing  symptoms,  characterised  by, 
at  thnes,  too  much  water,  then  too  little,  or  again  an  entire  stoppage 
of  water,  or  it  will  begin  to  pass  well  and  stop  suddenly,  with  still 
the  most  urgent  desire  to  pass  it ;  also,  urgent  desire  to  pass  the 
water  very  often  ;  heat  and  scalding  of  the  water  and  burning  ; 
bloody  discharges, — often  pure  blood  ;  mucous  discharges;  dis- 
charges of  matter ;  thick,  dark  settlings  in  the  water  on  its  stand- 
ing a  short  time  ;  very  difficult  to  ride  on  horseback  or  in  a 
carriage;  pain  and  heat  in  the  bladder,  &c. 

The  Cure. 

Most  physicians  have  an  idea  that  stone  in  the  bladder  cannot 
be  removed  without  being  cut  out, — a  most  terrible  and  dangerous 
operation, — or  else  it  must  be  broken  up  in  the  bladder  by  instru- 
ments, so  that  it  can  be  washed  out.  This  last  operation  is  dan- 


230  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

gerous,  and  very  often  impossible  to  be  done.  It  is  always  very 
painful.  I  know,  from  positive  experience,  and  observation, 
that  stone  in  the  bladder  can  be*  dissolved  by  suitable  medicines, 
and  so  entirely  washed  out.  It  may  require  twelve  to  twenty -four 
months  to  do  this,  in  a  gentle  way,  without  giving  pain  or  pro- 
ducing any  bad  consequences  whatever,  and  keeping  the  person 
in  a  state  of  the  greatest  comfort,  until  the  stone  is  finally  dis. 
solved  by  little  and  little,  until  all  comes  away.  Should  we  find 
with  this  a  falling  of  the  bowels,  after  all  tenderness  is  removed 
from  the  bladder,  we  may  put  on  an  abdominal  supporter ;  but 
whilst  heat  and  tenderness  are  found  in  or  about  the  bladder,  an 
abdominal  supporter  will  do  hurt  instead  of  good. 

WORMS  IN  THE  BACK  PASSAGE,  OR  LARGE  BOWEL, 
WITHIN  THE  BASKET  OF  THE  HIPS. 

I  have,  in  another  place,  spoken  of  worms,  and  their  bad  effects 
upon  the  health.  I  only  now  speak  of  a  worm  that  chiefly  stays 
and  breeds  in  the  larger  bowel  at  its  lower  part.  These  worms 
are  not  much  larger  than  a  knitting-needle,  and  hardly  longer 
than  a  grain  of  rye  or  barley.  They  occur  in  persons  of  all 
ages,  —in  children  and  in  adults,  and  in  old  persons,  producing 
very  great  derangement  of  the  general  health,  and  often  most  in- 
tolerable itching  in  the  lower  bowel.  The  usual  remedies  em- 
j '  .  ccl, — namely,  cathartic  medicines,  aloes,  and  strong  physic,  and 
injections, — will  bring  away  great  numbers  of  them,  but  will  rarely 
cure  them,  so  that  they  will  soon  come  again  in  great  numoers, 
as  before.  I  have  had  the  pleasure , of  discovering  within  the  last 
three  years,  a  remedy  that  will  expel  these  worms  entirely 
without  the  use  of  physic,  injections,  or  causing  any  pain  or  in- 
convenience to  the  patient.  They  should  not  be  allowed  to  remain, 
but  be  removed. 

FALLING  OF  THE  WOMB,  PRODUCED  BY  A  FALLING 
OF  THE  BOWELS,  &c. 

I  have  before  told  you  of  the  situation  of  the  womb, — that  it  is 
situated  at  the  top  of  the  front  passage,  and  between  the  bladder 
and  back  passage.  The  womb  (uterus),  is  in  shape  like  a  pear, 
or  like  a  balloon  ;  the  small  end,  or  neck,  is  downwards,  hang- 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 231 

ing  into  the  front  passage.  The  womb  is  closed,  save  at  its  lower 
small  end,  where  there  is  a  small  opening.  The  large  end  of  the 
womb  is  uppermost,  when  in  its  natural  place.  (See  plate  R.) 

The  ovaries  are  two  little  yellowish  balls,  situated  on  each  side 
of  the  womb,  at  a  little  distance  from  it,  and  communicate  with 
the  womb  by  little  pipes,  that  go  from  the  balls  to  the  womb,  and 
enter  the  womb  on  each  side  near  its  top.  (See  plate  S.)  I  shall 
speak  of  the  use  of  the  ovaries  in  another  place. 

The  womb,  in  its  natural  position,  is  situated  exactly  in  the 
centre  of  the  basket  of  the  hips,  towards  its  top.  It  does  not  sway 
to  one  side  more  than  another,  nor  does  the  womb  fall  backwards 
on  the  back  passage,  or  forwards  upon  the  bladder,  nor  does  it 
fall  downwards  into  the  front  passage,  if  in  health,  and  in  its  na- 
tural place. 

No  organ,  or  part  of  the  female  frame,  is  so  liable  to  disloca- 
tion as  tlie  womb  ;  and  no  part  can  be  dislocated,  that  so  suddenly 
prostrates  the  female,  and  so  promptly  breaks  down  all  the  powers 
of  life,  as  this.  The  slightest  changes  in  the  position  of  the  womb 
will  affect  the  female  health,  arid  make  her  an  invalid -in  a  short 
time.  I  will  now  mention  some  of  the  changes  that  take  place  in 
the  position  of  the  womb,  and  the  consequences  arising  from 
them. 

The  womb  is  always  disposed  to  keep  exactly  in  its  place,  if 
not  pressed  upon  by  other  bodies.  I  believe,  in  ninety-nine  cases 
uut  of  one  hundred,  the  womb  is  never  moved  from  its  place,  un- 
less the  bowels  from  above  fall  down  upon  its  largest  and  upper- 
most end.  Sometimes  by  bad  falls,  such  as  being  thrown  out  of 
a  carnage,  and  falling  sideways  on  the  hips,  or  flat  on  the  back, 
or  on  the  stomach,  the  womb  may  be  thrown  to  one  side,  or  bnck- 
wards,  or  forwards;  but  these  cases  are  very  rare.  The  almost. 
universal  cause  of  dislocation  of  the  womb,  is  the  falling  of  the 
bowels  from  above,  upon  the  womb.  Sometimes  the  womb  is 
congested,  and  greatly  enlarged,  from  miscarriages,  and  other 
causes,  so  that  its  weight  is  much  increased,  and  it  falls  down  b} 
its  own  weight.  By  looking  at  plate  S,  you  will  see  that  the 
womb  is  very  large,  and  broad  at  its  top,  and  presents  a  large 
surface,  on  which  the  falling  or  dislocated  bowels,  or  any  part 
falling  into  the  basket  of  the  hips,  may  strike,  or  impinge.  The 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


womb  hangs  in  the  basket  of  the  hips,  almost  as  if  on  a  pivot,  or 
swivel,  or  on  hinges.  It  is  moved  out  of  its  place  with  difficulty 
by  anything  that  comes  against  it  from  below,  but  almost  the 
slightest  touch'  from  above,  striking  on  its  large  end,  will 
move  it  out  of  its  place.  By  this,  and  by  falls,  the  top  of  the 
womb  may  be  thrown  backwards,  upon  the  back  passage, 
doubling  on  itself,  whilst  its  lower  end  keeps  in  its  place  ;  or  it 
may,  in  the  same  manner,  fall  forwards  upon  the  bladder.  At 
other  times,  whilst  the  top  of  the  womb  falls  on  the  back  passage, 
the  neck,  or  lower  end,  will  pass  over  against  the  bladder. 
Sometimes  the  womb  falls  to  one  or  other  sides  of  the  basket  of 
the  hips.  This  is  often  the  case  where  the  womb  falls  down- 
wards much.  The  most  common  change,  by  far,  is  when  the 
womb  falls  directly  down  into  the  front  passage.  I  will  now 
speak  more  particularly  of  some  of  these  changes  in  the  position 
of  the  womb. 

TOP  OF   THE   WOMB  FALLING  BACKWARDS,  AND 
STRIKING  ON  THE  BACK  PASSAGE. 

This  change  is  not  very  frequent  ;  when  it  does  take  place,  the 
unfortunate  lady  experiences  the  most  horrible  pain  in  the  small 
of  the  back,  —  almost  total  inability  to  sit,  stand,  or  walk,  or  even 
lay  down.  In  her  agony,  after  trying  every  position,  she  usually 
finds  most  relief,  by  putting  herself  on  her  knees  in  bed.  In  this 
position  she  will  often  remain  hours,  and  whole  nights  and  days, 
until  the  womb  falls  back  to  its  place.  Hysteric  fits,  at  times, 
take  place  from  the  extreme  agony  and  pain.  I  once  knew  a 
very  accomplished  English  lady,  who  had  a  falling  of  the  womb 
in  this  way,  at  times,  for  six  years.  She  consulted  the  most  emi- 
nent medical  men  in  London,  with  little  or  no  relief  ;  nor  could 
they  explain  to  her  the  cause  of  her  malady.  After  living  a  ter- 
rible sufferer  for  six  years,  she  visited  Philadelphia,  and  con- 
sulted a  medical  gentleman  there,  who,  on  examination,  disco- 
vered that  it  was  a  dislocation  of  the  top  of  the  womb,  and  its 
falling  backwards  on  the  back  passage.  The  use  of  suitable  re- 
medies soon  relieved  her. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  233 

PALLING  OF  THE  TOP  OF  THE  WOMB  FORWARDS. 

When  the  top  of  the  womb  falls  forwards,  it  strikes  on  the  top. 
and  back  part  of  the  bladder,  usually  at  once  causing  a  total  in- 
ability to  retain  the  urine.  Either  it  passes  off  involuntarily,  or 
she  is  forced  to  pass  it  every  few  minutes.  Great  pain  is  felt  in 
the  bladder,  and  in  the  stomach,  and,  in  fact,  all  over  her.  Re- 
lief is  usually  obtained  temporarily  by  laying  on  the  back. 

FALLING  OF  THE  WOMB  INTO  THE  FRONT 
PASSAGE. 

The  womb  falling  directly  down  into  the  front  passage,  or 
downwards,  or  a  little  to  one  side,  is  by  far  the  most  common 
form  of  falling  of  the  womb,  and  is  nearly  always  produced  by 
the  falling  of  the  bowels  from  above  upon  the  top  of  the  womb,  by 
which  accident  the  womb  is  pushed  downwards,  into  the  front 
passage,  and,  at  times,  entirely  out  of  the  body.  At  times,  it 
falls,  because  its  weight  is  much  increased  by  disease  and  enlarge- 
ment of  it,  from  child'- bearing,  or  miscarriage. 

SYMPTOMS  OF  THIS  FORM  OF  FALLING  OF 
THE   WOMB, 

The  following  are  some  of  the  prominent  symptoms  of  falling 
of  the  womb :  Extreme  weakness  in  the  small  of  the  back ; 
pain  and  heat  in  the  same  part ;  inability  to  walk  much,  espe- 
cially going  up-stairs,  or  up  a  hill ;  easily,  very  easily  fatigued, 
on  exercising  much  ;  appetite  capricious. — sometimes  good,  and 
again  none  at  all.  The  lady,  on  first  rising  in  the  morning,  feels 
usually  quite  well  ;  on  going  about,  or  attempting  a  little  exer- 
cise, she,  in  a  short  time,  begins  to  feel  indisposed,  and,  shortly 
after,  must  sit  down,  quite  exhausted,  and  out  of  heart, — spirits  all 
gone,  believing  that  she  must  always  be  sick.  She  is  nervous, 
easily  overcome,  and  subject,  on  much  hasty  exercise,  or  unusual 
exertion,  such  as  lifting  a  weight,  to  be  seized  with  tremblings  all 
over  ;  her  inmost  flesh  seems  to  tremble  in  all  its  parts  ;  she  is 
listless  and  languid,  and  feels  disposed  to  spend  much  of  her  time 
in  bed.  Somelimes,  she  will  experience  the  most  excrutiating 


234  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

pain  at  the  very  end  of  the  back- bone,  weakness  across  the  hips, 
and  across  the  bowels.  She  feels  an  indescribable  sense  of  sink- 
ing  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  and  all  gone.  She  has  a  feeling, 
as  if  cut  in  two,  below  the  pit  of  the  stomach.  She  often  has 
most  distressed  head-aches  ;  at  times,  great  heat  on  the  top  of  the 
head \  at  other  times,  she  feels  as  if  a  heavy  weight  was  pressing 
down  on  the  top  of  her  head, — ringing  in  her  ears,  specks  float 
before  her  eyes,  distressing  pains  in  the  limbs,  &c.  Sometimes 
does  not  sleep  well ;  sometimes  complains  of  a  cold  spot  on  her 
head,  &c.,  &c.  All  these,  and  many  others,  are  felt  at  times,  : 
not  all  at  once.  Rarely  does  any  one  lady  ever  feel  all  these 
symptoms;  but  they  are  all  found  in  every  ten  ladies  who  have 
falling  of  the  womb.  Bearing  down  is  one  of  the  most  common 
and  distressing  symptoms, — a  feeling,  on  walking,  or  standing,  as 
if  every  thing  was  coming  out  of  the  body. 

DISEASES  PRODUCED  BY  A  FALLING  OF 
THE  WOMB. 

Falling  of  the  womb  is  very  apt  to  induce  more  or  less  dis- 
turbance of  the  bladder,  and  trouble  in  passing  water.  Great 
heat  and  scalding  is  felt  in  the  front  passage  at  times.  Besides 
these  inconveniences,  the  following  diseases  are  produced  in  per- 
sons,— all  predisposed  to  them,  or  to  a  humor,  or  scrofula  : 

SPINE  DISEASE,  PRODUCED  BY  FALLING  OF 
THE  WOMB. 

In  nearly  every  case  of  the  falling  of  the  womb,  pain  and  heat 
are  felt  in  the  small  of  the  back  ;  yet,  In  the  early  periods  of  this 
misfortune,  there  is  no  spine  disease,  and  bleeding,  cupping  and 
blistering,  and  tartar  emetic  sores,  in  place  of  doing  good,  only 
do  hurt ;  but  after  a  long  time,  in  those  who  are  scrofulous  and  in 
any  way  predisposed  to  spine  disease,  it  will  take  place,  and  ten- 
fold aggravate  the  other  complaint. 

The  next  disease  I  will  mention  is, 

THE  WHITES,  OR  FLUOR  ALBUS. 

This  most  disagreeable  disease  is,  in  nearly  all  cases,  produced 
by  a  falling  of  the  womb.  Eveixwhen  the  womb  is  but  slightly 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  235 

moved  from  its  place,  whites  will  at  times  be  produced.  In  some 
instances  this  complaint  causes  very  profuse  discharges,  and 
greatly  weakens  the  lady.  By  its  debilitating  effects,  it  often 
tends  to  consumption.  To  cure  the  whites,  besides  abdominal 
support,  a  little  medicine  at  times  is  required.  It  is  easily  cured, 
and  never  should  be  allowed  to  afflict  the  female.  Many  a  fa- 
mily is  rendered  wretched  by  this  disease. 

BARRENNESS. 

Barrenness  can  hardly  be  called  a  disease,  but  is  usually  con- 
sidered a  great  misfortune.  I  will  endeavor  to  explain  how  it  is 
produced  by  a  falling  of  the  bowels.  I  have  told  you,  that  on 
each  side  of  the  womb  is  formed  a  little  ball,  that  is  connected 
with  the  womb  by  a  pipe.  (See  plate  S.)  Now,  in  order  to  have 
children,  at  least  one  of  these  pipes  must  be  open.  It  happens, 
at  times,  that  these  pipes  are  closed,  and  kept  closed,  by  the  bowels 
falling  down  upon  them.  In  some  cases,  when  long  continued, 
these  pipes  grow  entirely  up,  and  thus  occasion  hopeless  barren- 
ness. This  is  not  the  only  cause  of  barrenness,  but  is  one  of  its 
causes. 

Barrenness,  at  times,  is  produced  by  a  closing  up  of  the  neck 
of  the  wonvb.  I  have  had  the  pleasure,  by  recommending  suitable 
remedies,  to  see  ladies  have  children  who  had  thought  it  im- 
possible. 

MISCARRIAGES  FROM  FALLING  OF  THE  BOWELS. 

One  of  the  greatest  misfortunes  that  can  visit  any  lady,  is  to 
have  the  fruit  of  her  womb  torn  from  her  by  an  untimely  birth. 
From  such  she  usually  dates  broken  health, — oftentimes  sinking 
into  consumption,  suffering,  at  the  time  of  the  miscarriage,  the 
most  dangerous  floodings,  inflammation  of  the  womb,  &c.  No 
lady  ever  suffers  a  miscarriage  that  it  is  not  at  the  peril  of  her 
life.  I  firmly  believe  that  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  one  hundred 
of  miscarriage  aje  produced  by  falling  of  the  bowels,  and  may  be 
perfectly  prevented  by  proper  abdominal  support.  All  ladies,  * 
whilst  in  a  family- way,  should  have  the  abdomen  well  supported, 
so  that  even  a  severe  fall  will  not  induce  a  miscarriage.  After 


236  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

one  miscarriage,  medical  treatment -is  required,  besides  abdominal 
support. 

After  a  miscarriage,  the  lady  in  all  cases  should  employ  abdo- 
minal support,  and  take  all  measures  for  the  perfect  restoration 
of  her  health.  At.  least  one  halfj  and  in  many  cases  nearly  all, 
the  bad  consequences  of  a  miscarriage  arise  from  bad  or  inju- 
dicious treatment  after  it.  I  have  had  many  hundred  cases  of  ' 
ladies,  who  had  suffered  by  one  or  more  miscarriages.  I  do 
not  recollect  a  case  where  they  were  not  restored  to  health, 
when  they  followed  my  directions,  and  I  have  frequently  seen 
them  become  happy  mothers  of  many  children,  born  at  the  full 
time.  Among  many  hundred  cases  I  will  mention  one  only.  I 
was  consulted  in  April-,  1845,  by  a  lady  at  New  Bedford,  Mass. 
She  was  rather  young  and  had  suffered  several  miscarriages. 
Some  months  before  I  saw  her,  she  miscarried,  and  lost  an  im- 
mense quantity  cf  blood  ;  her  general  health  was  before  wretched, 
but  after  the  last  miscarriage  she  could  do  nothing,  and  could 
with  difficulty  ride  in  a  carriage,  could  walk  very  little,  and 
hardly  lift  a  book.  For  years  a  physician  called  at  her 
house  from  three  times  a  week  to  three  times  a  day.  I  gave  her 
her  remedies.  I  saw  her  six  months  afterwards  in  perfect  health, 
such  as  she  used  to  enjoy  when  young.  Her  husband  said  to 
me,  it  was  a  matter  of  more  surprise  to  him  than  he'was  able  to 
express,  to  be  able  to  say,  that  they  had  not  been  obliged  to  con- 
sult a  physician  once  since  I  prescribed  for  his  wife,  six  months 
before.  (See  Case  II.) 

FLOODINGS  FROM  FALLING  BOWELS  AND  LOW 
GENERAL  HEALTH. 

Many  single  ladies  suffer  very  much  from  excessive  discharges 
of  blood.  Many  married  ladies  suffer  the  same,  especially  those 
who  have  suffered  miscarriages.  Ladies,  after  fifty  years,  often 
suffer  very  much  from  these  discharges.  The  effect  is  to  reduce 
the  strength,  and  prepare  the  way  for  a  rapid  decay,  in  many 
cases.  Consumption  often  arises  from  this  cause,  and  dropsies, 
&c.,  &c.  The  affection  is  easily  cured.  (See  Letter,  page  249.) 
I  do  not  now  recollect  a  case,  that  by  a  little  medicine,  and 
proper  abdominal  support,  was  not  soon  cured. 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  237 

I  have  now  enumerated  a  long  list  of  frightful  diseases  that 
are  usually  caused  by  falling  of  the  bowels,  and  relaxation  of  the 
abdominal  belts.  Some  are  peculiar  to  married  ladies,  but 
nearly  all  are  incidental  to  both  married  and  single  ladies.  All 
are  dangerous.  All  tend  to  decay  of  the  system,  and  incline  to 
cut  off  the  thread  of  female  life  at  an  early  day.  All  are  cer- 
tainly and  infallibly  curable,  if  taken  at  the  "proper  time,  and  not 
allowed  to  go  on  for  many  years,  until  the  powers  of  life  are 
destroyed.  I  will  remark,  that  all  these  diseases  are  not  found 
in  every  case  of  falling  of  the  bowels,  but  in  each  case  of  falling 
of  the  bowels,  some  of  the  diseases  I  have  mentioned  to  you  take 
place.  Allow  me  to  repeat,  all  diseases  arise  from  loss  of 
symmetry,  external  or  internal,  or  from  poison.  Nearly  all  slow 
and  wasting  diseases  arise  from  loss  of  symmetry,  especially 
all  those  I  have  mentioned.  I  would  urge  you  to  seek  symmetry 
of  person,  both  external  and  internal,  as  a  grand  guarantee  of 
good  health  and  long  life.  It  is  in  the  power  of  every  lady  to 
possess  it. 

ABDOMINAL  SUPPORTERS. 

Jt  is  proper  that  I  should  speak  to  you  a  few  words  upon  the 
instruments  that  should  be  used  for  abdominal  support.  Although 
you  may  perfectly  understand  that  you  can  be  cured  by  abdomi- 
nal support,  yet,  if  the  instrument  you  use  is  not  properly  de- 
signed and  constructed,  and  then  made  of  a  suitable  size,  and 
properly  fitted  to  the  patient,  they  will  do  little  or  no  good,  and 
often  produce  a  great  deal  of  mischief.  In  many  cases,  a  sup- 
porter  may  be  worn  without  previous  preparation.  In  other  cases, 
the  patient  requires  to  be  aided  by  other  remedies,  before  using 
the  supporter.  A  great  many  abdominal  supporters  have  been 
made  and  worn,  some  of  which  have  some  merit,  and  others 
very  little  ;  I  cannot  pretend  to  describe  these  supporters,  but 
will  tell  you  what  they  ought  to  be  and  do.  You  will  recollect 
the  supporter  should  perform  a  two-fold  object :  one  is  to  support 
the  spine  of  the  small  of  the  back,  and  the  other  object  is  to  lift 
the  bowels  upwards,  and  not  press  them  down,  as  a  flat  pressure 
upon  the  abdomen  would  do.  Supporters  worn  within  the  front 
passage,  I  do  not  use  in  one  case  in  five  hundred  patients.  In  a 


238 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


FlaleL. 


Plate  M. 


Front  View  of  the  Supporter. 
2-2— Springs  that  »o  from  the  front  pad  np 
around  the  waist. 


Back  View  of  the  Supporter. 

i"J"'~J,~~ The  back  Paf|s  of  the  Supporter. 
2-4— Ends  of  the  springs  that  come  iron) 
the  waist. 


vast  many  cases,  supporters  worn  within  the  person  produce  in- 
curable disease  of  the  womb,  and  change  a  most  curable  disease 
into  one  that  never  can  be  cured,  and  renders  the  lady  a  dis- 
tressed invalid  whilst  she  lives.  All  the  supporters  I  use,  save 
in  exceedingly  rare  cases,  are  worn  outside  the  person.  They 
consist  of  a  neat  and  well-stuffed  pad,  that  rests  against  or  rather 
under  the  abdomen,  just  above  the  cross-bone  in  front.  The  pad 
is  so  formed,  and  so  presses,  that  it  lifts  the  whole  abdomen  and 
bowels  upwards,  and  does  not  press  in  such  a  manner  as  to  lay 
flat  on  the  bowels,  and  so  press  a  part  of  them  downwards  into 
the  basket  of  the  hips  ;  thus  causing  the  very  evil  we  wish  to  pre- 
vent. To  this  pad  in  front,  two  delicate  watch-spring  tempered 
steel  springs  are  attached.  These  springs  go  up  entirely  above 
the  hips  into  the  waist,  and  around  into  the  small  of  the  back,  so 
as  not  to  touch  the  hips,  or  interfere  with  them  at  all.  They  do 
not  go  around  the  hips,  but  go  entirely  above  them.  In  the  small 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  239 


of  the  back  are  four  small  pads  connected  with  the  springs  of  the 
front  pad.  vThe  small  pads  do  not  rest  in  the  small  of  the  back, 
but  two  of  them  rest  on  the  flat  part  of  the  hips  behind,  and  two 
of  them  rise  up  on  to  the  short  ribs  at  some  distance  each  side  of 
the  spine.  Nothing  is  allowed  to  press  into  the  small  of  the  back, 
or  to  press  at  all  on  any  part  of  the  back-bone.  The  instrument 
is  neatly  covered  and  padded,  so  as  to  produce  no  unpleasant 
pressure  anywhere.  The  only  feeling  is. that  of  support.  The 
instrument  weighs  about  four  ounces,  and  is  so  perfectly  elastic 
as  to  embrace  each  part  like  a  well-fitted,  beautiful  glove.  (See 
plates  L  and  M.)  In  a  very  short  time,  not  the  least  sensation  is 
experienced,  except  a  feeling  of  perfect  support.  No  fatigue  is 
produced,  or  the  least  disposition  to  take  the  instrument  off.  On 
taking  off  the  instrument,  so  elastic  is  it,  that  it  folds  itself  en- 
tirely  up,  all  of  its  parts  coming  together.  The  pressure  is  equal 
on  both  sides  of  the  waist,  and  not  more  on  oife  side  than  another, 
so  that  it  does  not  make  tho  wearer  bend  over  to  one  side,  as  some 
supporters  do.  No  feeling  is  produced  that  one  side  of  the  sup- 
porter is  stronger  than  another.  No  heat  is  produced  anywhere. 
The  instrument  is  worn  over  the  linen,  and  not  next  to  the  per- 
son. It  produces  no  sensation  of  being  tied  up,  or  swaddled  up, 
as  some  instruments  do.  Twelve  months  ago,  I  gave  one  of  my 
supporters  to  a  very  accomplished  lady,  who  had  suffered  great- 
ly from  falling  of  the  womb,  and  its  consequences.  In  a  few 
days,  she  told  me,  that  in  a  residence  of  many  years  in  Lon- 
don and  Paris,  and  this  country,  she  had  never  found  any  instru- 
ment that  could  compare  with  mine,  for  its  perfect  support — the 
absence  of  all  inconvenience  whatever,  allowing  her  to  ride, 
walk,  and  dance,  with  no  other  consciousness  of  the  presence 
of  the  instrument,  than  its  perfect  support. 

WHAT  A  SUPPORTER  SHOULD  NOT  BE,  OR  DO, 
AND  NEED  NOT  BE,  OR  DO. 

A  supporter  should  not  be  heavy,  or  cumbersome,  so  that  any 
sensation  of  weight,  or  fatigue,  is  produced  by  wearing  it.  Again, 
a  supporter  should  not  press  at  all  on  the  baok-bone,  anywhere. 
As  bad  spine  diseases  as  1  ever  saw,  were  produced  by  the  sup- 
porter pressing  on  the  spine,  or  back- bone.  Again,  a  supporter 


240  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

should  not  be  made  to  swaddle  up  the  hips  and  small  of  the 
back,  so  as  to  produce  heat  about  the  back-bone  especially,  or 
stomach,  or  hips.  The  India  rubber  supporters,  or  those  made 
wholly,  or  in  part,  of  the  elastic  India  rubber  stuffs,  are  extremely 
objectionable,  from  the  neat  they  cause  ;  and  in  this  way  tend  to 
produce  great  weakness  and  debility  of  the  back,  and  loins,  and 
hips,  and  abdominal  belts.  Finally,  a  supporter  should  not  be  so 
contrived  as  to  wear  it  next  the  skin.  It  should  be  worn  over 
the  linen.  Sometimes  a  small  pad  is  carried  down  below,  and 
in  this  case  it  is  worn  next  the  skin,  but  it  is  only  a  perineal  pad. 

EFFECTS  PRODUCED  BY  WEARING  A  SUITABLE  AND 
PERFECT  ABDOMINAL  SUPPORTER. 

The  effect  produced  by  wearing  a  suitable  and  perfectly-ad- 
justed abdominal  supporter,  is  often  nearly  miraculous.  The 
weak  voice  is  strengthened  ;  the  weak  lungs  supported  ;  the 
heart  ceases  its  palpitations  ;  the  food  sets  better  on  the  stomach  ; 
costiveness  is  relieved  ;  chronic  diarrhoea  is  stopped  ;  piles  are 
cured  ;  sinking-all-gone  feeling  at  the  lungs,  stomach,  or  sides, 
is  relieved  ;  bearing  down  stopped  ;  miscarriages  prevented  ; 
floodings  stopped  ;  whites  cured  ;  spine  gets  stronger.  The  lady 
who  could  not  walk,  is  soon  able  to  walk  well.  She  who  could 
not  even  sit  up,  save  for  a  few  minutes,  can  now  sit  up  all  day, 
or  as  long  as  any  one.  Falling  of  the  womb  is  cured  ;  and,  in 
longer  or  shorter  periods,  loses  all  its  tenderness  and  weakness, 
and  goes  permanently  back  to  its  place.  Barrenness,  in  some 
cases,  gives  place  to  fruitfulness.  The  female  constitution  is  re- 
novated, and  a  way  is  prepared  for  years  of  good  health. 


the  supporter  do  all  this  without  medicines,  or  any  other 
aid  ? 

In  reply  to  this  question,  I  answer,  that  before  disease  begins, 
the  supporter  will  usually  prevent  all  the  diseases,  or  affections,  I 
have  mentioned  ;  but,  after  actual  disease  or  disorder  is  present, 
in  nearly  all  cases  the  patient  requires  medical  advice,  and  more 
or  less  of  suitable  and  appropriate  medicines.  I  employ  an  ab- 
dominal supporter  as  a  most  valuable  and  indispensable  medical 
or  surgical  assistant  ;  but,  in  nearly  all  cases,  it  does  not,  and 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  241 

cannot,  be  so  effectual  as  to  preclude  other  remedies.  In  fact,  in 
a  vast  many  cases,  all  our  remedies  require  to  be  used,  in  order 
to  be  certain  of  a  cure.  One  secret  of  the  great  success  with 
which  I  have  been  favored,  is,  in  doctoring  all  diseases  which  a 
person  may  have  at  once,  and  at  the  same  time,  and  neglect  none. 
In  this  way,  all  will  often  get  well  together,  and  the  sick  be  re- 
stored to  perfect  health.  To  give  one  example,  I  once  doctored 
a  lady  who  had  ulcerated  lungs, — true  consumption ;  besides  this, 
she  had  very  bad  dyspepsia,  chronic  diarrhoea,  bad  piles,  falling 
of  the  womb,  whites  very  bad,  partial  stoppage,  and  scalding  of 
the  urine,  lame,  weak  back,  &c.  Here  were  seven  distinct  dis- 
eases, besides  the  consumption  ;  and  each  one  might  exist  with- 
out any  of  the  others.  Now,  were  I  to  doctor  one  or  two  of 
these,  and  let  the  others  alone,  I  might  help  the  ones  I  doctored, 
but  the  cure  would  hardly  ever  be  perfect.  As  soon  as  the  me- 
dicines are  left  off,  the  old  diseases  not  cured  would  bring  the 
others  on.  Many  persons  would  start  at  the  idea  of  taking  se- 
eral  kinds  of  medicines  on  the  same  day.  Herein  is  shown  the 
skill  of  the  physician,  to  prepare  his  medicines  so  that  no  one  will 
prevent  the  good  effects  of  the  other,  but  all  help  each  other,  and 
be  so  suitable  to  the  diseases  as  to  cure  them,  and  so  mild  and 
gentle  in  their  effects,  as  not  to  weaken  or  distress,  or  in  any 
way  aggravate  the  patient's  sufferings,  but  to  soothe  and  re- 
lieve them  all. 

Who  should  wear  an  abdominal  supporter  ?      When  should  they 
be  worn  ? 

I  reply,  that  every  delicate  lady,  and,  in  fact,  every  female, 
should  have  a  perfect,  and  pleasant,  and  well-adjusted  supporter 
at  her  command, — one  that  fits  her  well ;  and,  whenever  she  feels 
any  of  the  weaknesses  I  have  mentioned,  she  should  wear  her 
supporter.  Ladies  who  stand  a  great  deal,  or  take  long  walks,  or 
who  go  up  and  down-stairs  much,  who  take  long  and  fatiguing 
journeys,  who  are  nursing,  who  lift  much,  or  are  debilitated  from 
any  cause,  should  wear  a  supporter.  Some  ladies  should  wear  a 
supporter  one  month  in  a  year,  and  others  are  required  to  wear  it 
nearly  all  the  time.  Its  timely  and  judicious  use  will  contribute 
11 


242  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

vastly  to  prevent  the  approaches  of  disease, — will  confer  much 
comfort,  and  add  many  years  to  life. 

SYMMETRY  OF  MIND  ESSENTIAL  TO  HEALTH  AND 
LONG  LIFE. 

LADIES  : 

In  conclusion,  I  cannot  pass  over  the  vast  importance  to  health, 
that  the  mind,  in  all  its  parts,  should  be  well  balanced, — no 
one  attribute  of  mind  acting  at  the  expense  of  the  others.  A 
disordered  and  distempered  mind  is  totally  incompatible  with 
health  and  long  life.  It  soon  destroys  the  body  of  its  possessor. 
Tranquillity  and  repose  of  mind  are  indispensable  to  health  and 
long  life.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  all  the  vices  contribute  to 
disturb  the  mind,  whilst  all  the  virtues  contribute  to  its  repose 
and  tranquillity.  The  effect  of  vice  is  to  shorten  life,  and  destroy 
health  whilst  we  live.  On  the  other  hand,  virtue,  in  all  its  de- 
monstrations, inclines  to  lengthen  the  duration  of  human  life. 
Now  then,  ladies,  allow  me  to  urge  you  to  cultivate  symmetry 
of  mind.  Repel  from  your  minds  all  corroding  cares,  all  unne- 
cessary anxieties,  and  every  thing  in  the  shape  of  secret  vices. 
Secret  vices  are  like  that  destructive  vermin  that  establishes  it- 
self in  the  heart  of  the  choicest  and  most  promising  fruits,  and 
eats  out  all  their  virtue  and  substance.  Never  allow  remorse, 
revenge,  envy,  hatred,  or  malice,  to  take  possession  of  your  minds. 
These  conditions  of  the  mind  deepen  all  the  lines  of  the  face, 
sharpen  all  the  features,  and  give  to  their  possessor  the  appear- 
ance of  premature  age,  and  call  down  upon  her,  who  should  and 
could  be  the  delight  of  all  eyes,  the  epithet  of  "  hag."  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  internal  purity,  and  the  practice  of  benevolence, 
the  exercise  of  generosity,  of  kindness  to  all,  "thinking  no  evil," 
practising  no  evil,  cultivating  the  fullest  cheerfulness.,  will  soothe 
and  soften  the  coarsest  brow.  Above  all,  the  whole  mind  requires 
an  anchor  that  shall  stay  it  in  all  the  storms,  vicissitudes,  and 
troubles  of  life*  .This  anchor  is  obtained  in  pure  and  undefiled 
religion, — a  constant  reliance,  in  all  trials,  upon  God  our  Saviour. 
Practise,  judiciously,  the  precepts  of  health  I  have  taught  you, 
for  your  bodies.  For  your  minds,  "  never  be  wise  above  what  is 
written,"  but  learn  and  practise  all  the  teachings  of  our  bl< 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  243 

Saviour,  and  your  persons  will  be  full  of  strength  and  Deputy  ; 
your  days  will  be  filled  with  joyous  health,  and  your  lives  be 
long,  prosperous,  and  happy. 

Ladies,  in  concluding  these  two  lectures,  I  take  the  liberty  to 
present  to  you  a  few  letters,  selected  out  of  a  large  number  of  the 
same  character,  from  ladies  who  have  realized  benefits  by  pur- 
suing the  course  I  have  indicated  in  the  foregoing  lectures.  The 
object  is  to  obtain  your  perfect  confidence,  so  that  you  may  pre- 
serve your  health  during  a  long  life,  and  should  sickness  invade 
that,  that  you  may  never  despair  of  a  perfect  recovery.  Without 
a  share  of  your  confidence,  you  will  not  be  induced  to  follow  the 
directions  pointed  out  in  the  lectures. 

To  ensure  this  confidence,  I  subjoin  a  few  letters  from  intelli- 
gent ladies.  In  reading  them,  you  may  perceive  a  mirror, 
reflecting  wholly,  or  in  part,  your  own  cases,  and  learn  by  the 
gratifying  results  how  much  you,  yourselves,  may  be  benefhted. 
To  some  of  these  letters  I  have  appended  a  few  explanatory 
remarks. 


CASE  I.— Mrs.  A.  W.  Kingsky. 

In  February,  1845,  this  lady  called  on  me  in  Providence,  PJiode 
Island.  She  is  one  of  the  most  accomplished  female  teachers  in 
that  city.  In  the  arduous  pursuit  of  her  laborious  profession,  she 
had  greatly  impaired  her  health  ;  had  nearly  lost  her  voice  ;  ex 
perienced  a  very  bad  sore  throat ;  great  pain  and  weakness  abouf 
the  top  of  her  chest.  These  symptoms  became  so  aggravated, 
that  in  October,  1844,  she  was  obliged  to  relinquish  her  profession 
altogether,  and  for  five  months  past  had  been  an  invalid.  She 
called  on  me  on  Friday  morning,  and  after  stating  her  case,  told 
me  that  the  next  Monday  the  spring  term  of  her  school  would 
commence,  and  said  it  would  give  her  infinite  pleasure  could  she 
then  resume  her  duties  in  the  school.  I  gave  her  her  remedies, 
with  careful  directions.  On  Monday  following  she  resumed  her 
occupation  in  the  school,  and  although  the  same  occupation  that 
had  previously  made  her  ill,  yet  so  effectual  and  appropriate  were 
the  remedies,  and  so  persevering  her  use  of  them,  that  in  a  few 


244  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

weeks  she  recovered  her  health.     The  next  May  I  received  the 
following  letter  from  her  : 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  A.  W.  Kingsley  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  Providence,  May  21st,  1845. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  should  have  written  to  you  before  this,  but  my 
directions  got  mislaid,  therefore  I  was  unable.  My  health  is  very 
good  :  there  is  no  soreness  in  the  throat,  but  some  pain,  if  I  read 
aloud,  a  short  time,  although  it  does  not  trouble  me  at  all  in  my 
daily  occupation  ;  therefore  I  have  great  cause  for  encourage- 
ment and  thankfulness.  On  the  whole,  I  have  not  enjoyed  such 
good  health  for  more  than  a  year,  and  your  supporter  I  can  speak 
of  in  the  highest  terms ;  I  should  not  be  willing  to  part  with  it  on 
any  account.  I  think  it  has  done  more  for  the  improvement  of 
my  health  than  all  the  medicine  I  have  taken.  It  appears  to 
support  the  whole  frame.  Your  patients,  Misses  Angell  (see  page 
156)  and  Tyler,  are  improving  in  health,  especially  Miss  A.  She 
has  not  been  so  well  for  a  long  time.  I  must  speak  of  the  inhaling 
tube  you  gave  me,  which  I  consider  a  valuable  present,  and  am 
greatly  obliged  to  you. 

"  I  am,  with  respect,  yours,  &c. 

"  A.  W.  KINGSLEY." 

CASE  II. —Mrs.  Emetine  M.  Rowland. 

This  lady  called  on  me  at  New  Bedford,  in  April,  1845.  Her 
health  had  become  so  impaired,  that  for  a  year  previous  to  con- 
sulting me,  she  had  been  unable  to  do  anything  in  her  family, 
and  was  nearly  all  the  time  under  the  care  of  her  physician.  She 
called  on  me  on  Saturday  evening, — on  Monday  morning  follow- 
ing she  resumed  her  duties  in  her  family.  I  saw  this  lady  six 
months  afterwards,  accompanied  by  her  husband.  She  called  on 
me  ;  she  had  become  fleshy,  and  was  in  perfect  health.  Her 
husband  told  me,  that  for  many  years  some  physician  or  other  had 
visited  their  house  professionally,  from  once  a  week  to  three  times 
a  day  ;  "  and  now,77  said  he,  "  to  our  utter  astonishment,  when 
we  think  of  it,  no  physician  has  been  called  to  visit  us  since  my  j 
wife  received  her  remedies  from  you." 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Emeline  M.  Rowland  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  New  Bedford,  June  23,  1845. 
"  DR.  FITCH  : 

"  Health  is  a  blessing  that  I  have  not  enjoyed  since  a  child, 
and  for  the  last  eight  years  have  suffered  much,  and  never  ex- 
pected to  enjoy  it  again  ;  and  have  expected  to  drag  out  a  mise- 
rable existence,  and  find  an  early  grave.  Often  have  I  desired  a 
quiet  night's  rest,  but  in  vain.  You  have  only  to  turn  to  your 
notes,  and  view  what  my  situation  was  when  I  called  on  you,  a 
few  weeks  since,  with  but  little  faith,  and  small  hope.  I  took 
your  supporters,  medicine,  and  directions,  and  returned  home,  en- 
couraged by  your  advice.  With  great  resolution  and  perseve- 
rance, on  my  own  part,  and  from  your  supporters,  medicine,  and 
advice,  I  have  received  great  benefit.  I  now  enjoy  good  health. 
I  feel  that  I  have  just  began  to  live.  I  can  rest  sweetly  all 
night.  I  think  I  never  enjoyed  life  so  well  before.  In  truth,  I 
must  say,  the  benefit  I  Kave  received  from  your  modicine  cannot 
be  expressed.  Accept  this  slight  testimony  of  my  gratitude,  for 
the  benefit  I  have  received  from  your  directions.  I  think  I  shall 
never  be  afraid  of  cold  water  again.  Miss  Anna  Bunder  is  much 
better,  especially  as  regards  her  throat,  than  when  you  were 
here.  "  Respectfully  yours, 

"  EMELINE  M.  ROWLAND." 


CASE  III.— Mrs.  Mary  F.  Gardiner. 

In  July,  1845,  I  was  requested  to  visit  this  lady.  I  found  her 
in  a  very  bad  state  of  health,  a  helpless  invalid.  She  had  been 
confined  to  her  bed  upwards  of  four  months,  and  was  wholly  un- 
able to  stand  or  walk  ;  she  could  not  rise  from  her  bed  ;  two  or 
three  persons  were  required  daily,  to  lift  her  in  and  out  of  bed. 
She  experienced  great  pain  and  weakness  in  the  small  of  her 
back,  suffered  excessively  from  gravel,  falling  of  the  womb,  &c  ; 
on  being  placed  in  an  upright  posture,  experienced  excessive 
bearing  down,  and  disposition  to  faint,  with  utter  prostration  of 
strength.  All  the  medical  aid  she  could  obtain  had  entirely  fail- 
ed to  relieve  her  ;  she  utterly  despaired  of  ever  being  able  to 


246  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

walk  again,  being  strongly  predisposed  to  hereditary  consumption. 
Her  case  was  extremely  critical,  in  September,  I  received  the 
following  letter,  and  about  the  middle  of  October,  twelve  weeks 
after  1  first  saw  Mrs.  Gardiner,  I  met  her  brother,  who  informed 
me  that  his  sister  was  now  in  excellent  good  health,  and  was  able 
*o  walk  about  town,  and  attend  to  her  duties  as  well  as  any 
lady. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Mary  F.  Gardiner  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch 

"Fall  River,  Sept.  7th,  1845. 
"DocT.  S.  S.  FITCH: 

"  It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  avail  myself  of  this  opportuni- 
ty, to  inform  you  respecting  my  health.  It  is  greatly  improved 
in  some  respects,  since  I  began  to  take  your  medicine,  six  weeks 
ago  last  Wednesday  night.  I  have  not  been  so  well  of  costive- 
ness  for  nearly  two  years,  as  at  present.  My  appetite  is  good, 
and  causes  very  little  heaviness  or  distress  in  my  stomach,  to 
what  it  did.  My  head  is  better  than  it  has  been  for  more  than 
two  years,  yet  I  am  still  weak,  and  have  to  lie  down  once  or 
twice  in  the  forenoon,  and  as  many  times  in  the  afternoon.  In 
three  weeks  from  the  time  I  began  to  take  your  medicine,  I  walk- 
ed  out  of  doors  as  far  as  the  gate, .and  have  been,  since  that,  to 
the  nearest  neighbor's.  My  greatest  weakness  is  now  in  the  small, 
and  low  down  in  my  back.  I  have  tried  to  be  as  careful  as  I 
could,  but  by  some  means,  I  cannot  tell  how,  whether  it  is  the 
sudden  changes  of  the  weather  or  what,  I  have  had  a  bad  cold 
about  a  fortnight,  and  cough  so  that  I  could  not  rest  when  I  lay 
down.  I  think  I  should  feel  quite  smart,  if  it  were  not  for 
this.  I  feel  thankful  that  you  have  been  the  means,  under  our 
Heavenly  Father's  blessing,  of  restoring  my  health  as  much  as 
it  is  ;  and  now,  according  to  promise,  I  want  you  to  send  me  all 
the  instructions  you  can.  I  want  you  to  send  me  word  how  soon 
you  are  coming,  and  if  soon,,  there  are  some  things  I  have  not 
mentioned,  that  I  wish  to  tell  you ;  and  if  not,  I  will  write  again. 
Your  visit  to  Fall  River  has  been  blest  to  others  as  well  as  me, 
and  we  have  the  promise,  that  if  we  "do  all  the  good  we  can,  we 
shall  be  blessed  both  in  a  temuoral  and  spiritual  sense.  This  is 


.LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  24? 

the  sincere  wish  and  prayer  of  her  who  addresses  these  lines  to 
you.     Please  to  return  an  answer,  as  soon  as  you  receive  this. 

"  MARY  F.  GARDINER." 


CASE  IV. 
Copy  of  a  Utter  from  Miss  Betsy  A.  Beedom  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  New  Bedford,  June  10,  1845. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  sir, — After  a  considerable  period  of  ill  health,  I  was 
attacked  in  January,  1845,  and  lost  several  quarts  of  blood,  that 
reduced  me  greatly ;  confined  to  my  bed  five  weeks ;  and  gradually 
regained  a  little  strength,  so  as  to  go  aboilP  my  room  and  the 
house,  but  not  able  to  do  any  work.  April  19,  1845,  I  first  saw 
you  ;  my  situation  was  then  as  follows  : — Pale  as  ashes  ;  unable 
to  do  any  work  ;  my  food  soured,  and  remained  undigested  in 
my  stomach  ;  bad  dyspepsia  ;  all  broke  off,  and  sinking  at  the 
stomach  all  gone  there  ;  costive  all  the  time  ;  very  short  breath- 
ing ;  scarcely  able  to  walk  ;  weak  stomach  ;  icy-cold  feet  ; 
small  of  the  back  very  weak  ;  pain  in  the  small  of  the  back  and 
shoulders  ;  female  irregularity.  I  could  have  hardly  expected 
to  have  been  alive  at  this  time.  The  supporter,  braces,  and 
medicine,  produced  a  rapid  and  happy  change  in  my  health, 
strength,  and  looks.  I  have  now  been  able  to  work  for  five 
weeks  past.  I  am  in  excellent  health  ;  every  bad  symptom  ei- 
ther entirely  gone,  or  so  slight  as  not  to  be  noticed.  My  best 
thanks  to  you.  "  BETSY  A.  BEEDOM." 

CASE  V. 
Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Abigail  Gills  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch.. 

"  Providence,  July  29,  1845. 
"  DR.  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  sir, — When  I  came  to  you,  I  had  been  suffering  from 
complaints  of  long  standing,  from  which  I  had  failed  to  obtain 
relief.  I  vas  glad,  wjien  hearing  you  lecture,  to  know  you  had 
supporters,  as  well  as  medicine,  to  strengthen  the  system.  When 
I  commenced  taking  your  remedies,  I  was  very  hoarse,  often 


243  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

fainting,  could  not  walk  any  distance  without  being  oppressed  for 
breath,  was  very  weak,  with  a  pain  in  my  side,  and  a  cough  that 
troubled  me  very  much.  I  am  positively  very  much  benefitted 
from  wearing  your  abdominal  supporter,  and  shoulder-braces, 
which,  with  the  medicine  I  have  taken,  have  imparted  to  me  a 
degree  of  health  to  which  I  had  been  long  a  stranger.  I  feel 
Convinced  that,  under  Providence,  I  owe  my  recovery  from  dis- 
tressing prostration  and  suffering,  entirely  to  the  agency  of  your 
medicine.  This  testimony  I  give  with  the  most  heartfelt  grati- 
tude for  the  kind  interest  which  you  have  manifested  for  me,  and 
which  I  shall  ever  remember.  "  Yours,  with  respect, 

"  ABIGAIL  GIBBS.' 

CASE  VI. 
Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Peter  Fayerweaiher  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  Bridgeport,  Feb.  24th,  1845. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH  : 

"  Being  out  of  business  this  winter,  I  have  been  out  of  town 
most  of  the  time.  This  is  my  apology.  We  have  not  forgotten 
your  kindness  to  us  last  fall.  No,  we  feel  under  lasting  obliga- 
tions to  you.  My  health  is  quite  good,  considering  my  depression 
of  mind.  Your  remedies  I  found,  in  every  particular,  good.  Mrs. 
Fayerweather  is  almost  entirely  freed  from  all  her  old  difficulties. 
Her  countenance  is  brightened  up.  She  feels  active  and  young, 
as  she  did  ten  years  ago.  She  has  fleshed  up,  and,  in  short,  she 
is  almost  the  entire  picture  of  health.  She  wishes  to  be  remem- 
bered to  you  in  a  particular  manner.  She  says  she  owes  to  you, 
through  God,  all  the  cheerfulness  and  enjoyments  of  this  life. 
Oh  !  how  vain  are  all  things  here  below,  without  health. 
"  I  remain  yours,  in  the  bonds  of  gratitude, 

"  PETER  FAYERWEATHER." 

CASES  VII.  AND  VIII. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Betsey  A.  Jenney  and  Mrs.  Lydia 
French,  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Filc\ 

"  New  Bedford,  Nov.  1st,  1845. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH  . 

"  Dear  sir, — From  six  months'  experience  in  use  of  your  sup- 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY.  249 

porters,  shoulder-braces,  and  medicines,  and  instructions  for  the 
formation  of  health,  I  can  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  ap- 
probation of  them.  I  am  now  in  excellent  health.  Your  sup- 
porter is  an  admirable  instrument.  I  have  fully  experienced  the 
truth  of  all  you  promised.  From  wretched  and  long-continued 
prostration,  I  am  returned  to  good  health. 

"  BETSEY  A.  JENNEY." 

"  I  can  say  ditto  to  the  above  and  send  you  my  best  thanks. 

"  LYDIA  FRENCH." 


CASE  IX. 
Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Harriet  G.  Taber  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"New  Bedford,  Nov.  8d,  1845. 
<DR.  FITCH: 

"  I  am  glad  to  add  my  testimony,  with  many  of  my  friends  in 
this  town  :  perhaps  it  may  be  of  use  to  your  patients.  I  will  here 
state,  that  you  have  cured  me  of  weakly  complaints,  which  I 
never  expected  to  be  freed  from.  I  had  a  lame  side  for  two 
years,  and,  at  times,  it  was  very  much  swollen.  After  I  had 
given  your  medicine  a  fair  trial,  it  not  only  cured  my  side,  but 
other  complaints.  I  have  been  acquainted  with  some  of  your  pa- 
tients in  this  place,  and  take  the  liberty  to  recommend  you  to  all 
those  who  have  curable  diseases.  I  feel  a  debt  of  gratitude  to 
you  that  words  cannot  express,  and  hope  that  you  will  receive 
your  reward  in  the  life  that  now  is,  and  in  that  which  is  to  come. 

"  MRS.  HARRIET  G.  TABER." 

CASE  X. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Lois  S.  Smith  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch* 

"  New  Bedford,  Nov.  4,  1845. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  sir, — In  November  last  I  was  attacked  with  flooding, 
attended  with  universal  pain  all  over  my  sides,  back,  loins,  &c. ; 
palpitation ;  loss  of  appetite ;  sour  stomach ;  costiveness ;  dis- 
tress across  me ;  inflammation  of  the  womb,  &c. ;  pale  as  ashes ; 
and  was  confined  chiefly  to  my  bed  for  nearly  six  months.  On 


250  LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 

the  20th  of  April  last,  you  saw  me ;  I  am  now  vastly  better  than 
I  was.  I  am  able  to  do  all  my  own  work — can  walk  miles  if  I 
please — have  good  appetite,  and  *very  good  health  for  me.  I 
have  not  followed  your  directions  very  strictly,  but  as  far  as  I 
have  done,  have  derived  vast  benefit.  I  feel  under  vast  obliga- 
:ions  to  you.  The  supporter  is  a  valuable  assistant,  and  I  have 
ained  nearly  all  my  flesh. 

"  Accept  my  best  thanks, 

"  Lois  S.  SMITH." 


CASE  XL 
Copy  of  a  letter  from  Miss  Mary  Nutter  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Feb.  26,  1846. 
"  D-R.  FITCH  : 

"Kind  sir, — My  health  has  for  many  years  been  on  the  decline. 
I  am  now  happy  to  inform  you  it  is  much  improved.  That  com- 
plaint  for  which  I  consulted  you  in  December 'last,  I  live  in  hopes 
I  am  about  v/ell  of.  I  have  experienced  much  benefit  from  your 
supporter  and  medicines,  for  which  please  accept  my  humble 
thanks.  I  rest  well  at  nights,  and  have  a  good  appetite.  I  think  I 
feel  about  ten  years  younger.  I  have  found  much  benefit  from 
the  cold  and  warm  baths.  I  try  to  stand,  and  sit,  and  walk,  as 
upright  as  possible.  I  hope  you  will  be  the  honored  instrument, 
under  God,  of  restoring  thousands  to  health ;  and  when  your  la- 
bors on  earth  are  ended,  may  you  be  so  happy  as  to  join  that 
land  where  the  inhabitants  thereof  will  no  more  say  they  are 
sick  ! 

"  MARY  NUTTER. 

"  If  you  should  have  occasion  to  write  to  me,  please  address 
to  care  of  Robert  Smith." 

CASE  XII. 
Copy  of  a  letter  from  Miss  Susan  T.  Waldron  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  Taunton,  Oct.  8th,  1845. 
"DR.  FITCH:. 

"  I  take  my  pen  this  morning  to  tell  you  the  past  and  present 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES   OJNLY.  261 

state  of  my  heath.  In  April,  1841,  I  was  taken  with  low  bilious 
fever,  that  confined  me  to  my  room  four  weeks.  On  the  27th 

of  August   my  fever    returned.     I  then  sent  for  Dr. ,  of 

Easton ;  he  is  called  the  best  we  have  with  us.  He  said  I  had 
the  liver  complaint.  In  two  days  my  skin  was  as  yellow  as  an 
Indian.  In  seventeen  days  my  fever  was  gone.  I  gained  strength, 
so  that  I  could  sit  up  one  hour  in  a  day,  and  thought  I  should  soon 
be  able  to  sew  again.  I  was  then  taken  with  dysentery,  that  so 
reduced  my  strength,  that  I  could  not  walk  about  the  house  for 
three  months.  I  did  not  walk  a  step  in  the  streets  for  eight 
months.  In  eight  months  more  I  gained  strength  enough  to  sit 
up  all  day,  but  I  could  not  work.  In  1843,  I  was  introduced  to 

Dr. ,  of  Norton,  a  homoeopathic  doctor.     I  took  his  medicine 

one  year.  It  much  improved  my  health,  so  that  I  \v  j  :  to  work, 
yet  I  never  saw  a  well  day.  A  soreness  at  the  pit  of  my  stomach, 
palpitation  of  the  heart,  lameness  through  the  chest  and  shoulder- 
blades,  and  pain  and  weakness  in  the  back :  from  all  these  I  have 
been  a  daily  sufferer,  and  never  expected  to  be  relieved  until 
my  immortal  spirit  took  its  flight  to  that  blessed  world  above, 
where  sickness  and  sorrow  never  are  known. 

"  October  the  17th,  I  called  to  see  you.  You  furnished  me 
with  a  supporter,  shoulder-brace  and  medicine.  My  back  was 
immediately  relieved,  and  to  my  unexpected  joy,  in  six  days  I 
walked  a  mile,  spent  the  day  and  walked  home  again  at  night, 
with  ease.  I  have  not  walked  so  far  in  one  day  for  five  years. 
The  soreness  in  my  stomach  and  chest  is  gone.  I  have  suspend- 
ed all  medicines,  and  feel  well.  Your  remedies  I  have  strictly 
followed.  My  strength  daily  increases,  and  my  skin  looks  clear. 
Use  my  name,  if  you  please,  for  your  own  special  benefit,  and 
for  the  afflicted  also.  Excuse  all  the  mistakes  in  spelling,  for  this 
is  the  first  letter  I  have  written  in  four  years,  confusion  in  my  head 
prevented  it.  I  recommend  your  supporters  and  shoulder-braces 
to  all. 

"  Please  to  write  me  a  line,  for  then  I  shall  know  if  you  have 
received  mine.     My  mother  and  sisters  join  with  me  in  return- 
ing thanks  to  you  for  my  speedy  recovery. 
"  Yours,  with  respect, 

"  SUSAN  T.  WALDRON." 


862 


LECTURE  TO  LADIES  ONLY. 


Plate  S. 


Kidneys,  Ureters,  Large  Bowel,  and  Womb. 

M— Midriff,  or  floor  of  the  Lungs. 

2-2— The  Kidneys. 

3-3— The  Ureters,  or  pipes  that  carry  the  water  frott 

the  Kidneys  to  the  Bladder. 
4— Upper  end  of  the  straight  large  Bowel,  or  back  , 

passage  through  the  Basket  of  the  Hips. 
5— The  Womb. 

6-6— -The  Ovaries.    (See  page  21«.) 
7-The  Bladder. 


QUESTIONS  TO  INVALID  LADIES. 

As  it  has  been  my  happiness  often  to  cure  invalid  Ladies  I  have  never  seen, 
but  learned  their  case  from  friends,  or  by  letters,  I  give  some  questions,  which 
may  be  carefully  answered,  such  as  may  concern  your  case.  It  will  be  pre- 
sumed the  others  do  not  trouble  you.  A  prompt  answer  will  be  returned, 
stating  remedies  required,  and  cost.  No  notice  of  a  first  letter  not  post-paid. 
No  charge  for  advice  by  letter. 

Address  DR.  SAMUEL  S.  FITCH,  No.  *QT  Broadway,  Neic-York. 

What  is  your  name,  age,  occupation,  residence,  so  a  letter  may  reach  you  1 
Where  born  and  brought  up  ?  Delicate  or  good  constitution!  Height  1 
Slender  or  broad  figure?  Fleshy  or  lean!  Erect  or  stooping  ?  Chest  full 
and  strait,  or  contracted,  flat,  and  stooping!  What  is  your  measure  around 
the  waist,  just  above  the  hips  1  What  is  the  color  of  your  hair,  eyes,  and 
complexion!  To  what  diseases  are  your  family  subject!  Any  died  of 
asthma,  scrofula,  heart-disease,  dropsy,  cancer,  or  consumption  !  Are  you 
subject  to  asthma  or  short-breathing  ? — any  humor,  salt  rheum,  or  skin  dis- 
eases ! — any  head-ache,  or  pain  in  the  chest,  neck,  spine,  shoulders,  back, 
stomach,  bowels,  sides,  oriimbs? — any  sore  throat,  swelled  tonsils,  heat  or  dry- 
ness  in  the  throat,  weak  voice,  loss  of  voice,  hoarseness,  catarrh  in  head,  nose, 
or  throat.  Any  cough  ! — how  long  had  it!  Do  you  cough  up  anything! — 
how  much! — what  kind,  &c. !  When  cough  most! — and  when  raise  most! 
Ever  raise  blood  ! — how  many  times! — how  much  !  On  which  side  lay  best, 
if  either!  On  full-breathing,  do  your  ribs  rise  equally  all  over  your  chest,  or 
do  the  ribs  rise  better  on  one  side  or  part  than  another!  Have  you  daily 
chills,  or  fever,  or  night-sweats!  Are  you  confined  to  your  bed,  or  room,  or 
the  house,  or  do  you  go  out  daily!  Any  palpitation,  or/Jistress  at  the  heart, 
or  stoppage  of  circulation  !  Are  you  nervous,  or  paralytic,  or  have  fits  !  Any 
bad  dreams,  and  their  effects!  Any  dyspepsia,  sour  stomach,  or  distress,  or 
pressure  at  the  stomach  !  After  eating,  does  food  rise  !  Ever  sick  stomach 
to  vomit!  Ever  any  sinking,  exhausted,  all-gone  feeling  at  top  of  chest,  pit 
of  stomach,  or  sides,  or  bowels,  or  across  you!  Appetite  good,  bad,  or  ca- 
pricious! Bowels  regular,  costive,  or  diarrhoea  !  Any  external,  or  bleeding, 
or  blind  piles,  or  fistula,  weak  back,  heat  in  your  back,  or  any  part,  hot  flash- 
es! Have  a  rupture!  Suspect  having  worms!  What  kind!  Any  gravel 
or  kidney  complaints!  Water  stoppage,  or  free,  or  too  much,  scanty  or  scald- 
ing, or  settlings!  Cold  or  burning  feet!  Bloating  anywhere!  Much  wind 
in  stomach  or  bowels!  Rheumatism  or  neuralgia!  Any  deformity !  Ever 
any  wounds!  Long  fevers!  Took  much  medicine,  or  mercury?  Fever 
sores!  Bilious  habitually!  Married  or  single,  or  widow!  Had  any  chil 
dren!  Suffered  miscarriages,  or  floodings!  Ever  rise  from  bed  feeling  quit 
smart,  but,  on  exercising,  soon  obliged  to  sit  or  lay  down,  all  exhausted,  or 
head-ache,  and  discouraged  !  Natural  periods  easy,  painful,  regular,  or  irreg- 
ular, or  stopped?  If  so,  how  long,  and  why!  In  the  family-way  !  Any 
bearing-down,  or  female  complaints?  What  have  you  done  for  these  com- 
plaints ?  Can  you  read  aloud,  or  talk  long,  or  walk  well,  or  do  light  work, 
without  unusual  fatigue  ?  Are  you  in  indigent  or  easy  circumstances  ?  Have 
you  good  teeth  ?  Do  you  work  hard,  go  out  much,  or  the  reverse  ? 


HENRY   FRANCISCO, 

fc»d  at  Whitehall,  in  the  State  of  New- York,  October,  ! 
aged  134  years. 


LECTURE   SIXTH, 

TO  GENTLEMEN,  ONLY. 


On  the  mode  of  forming  a  noble,  manly  chest,  and  fine  erect  car- 
riage. — On  the  best  manner  of  preventing  decline  of  animal 
strength,  and  of  invigorating  the  male  constitution,  so  as  to  pre- 
serve health  and  life  to  an  hundred  years. 

GENTLEMEN  : 

No  people  on  earth -exceed  the  Anglo-American  in  their  uni- 
versal spirit  of  enterprise ;  few  obstacles  can  deter  them,  few 
barriers  arrest  them.  With  courage  indomitable  they  grapple 
with  the  greatest  difficulties,  and  usually  overcome  them  ;  their 
sails  whiten  every  sea,  their  ships  cross  every  ocean,  in  the  pur- 
suit  of  prosperous  commerce,  or  in  the  accomplishment  of  hardy 
adventure.  In  the  mechanical  arts,  no  people  display  greater 
ingenuity,  exercise  better  judgment,  or  apply  more  accurate 
science.  In  education,  its  universal  diffusion  is  scarcely  equal- 
led  by  any  people.  But  on  the  subject  of  health,  no  people  are 
more  behind  what  is  known,  than  the  Anglo-American.  Even 
the  rude  savages  of  our  continent  are  far  better  instructed 

o 

in  the  principles  of  health,  and  likewise  in  the  knowledge  of 
remedies  curative  of  disease,  than  our  most  intelligent,  best 
educated,  and  best  informed  citizens,  who  are  not  professed  phy- 
sicians. Let  a  sick  man  enter  an  Indian  camp,  and  nine  out  of 
ten  adult  men  and  women  are  capable  of  prescribing  for  his 
disease,  and  in  general  successfully.  The  preparation  of  our 
food  is  an  art  of  the  highest  importance,  connected  with  the  pre- 
servation of  our  health,  and  yet  not  one  American  gentleman 
in  a  thousand  can  be  found  who  is  capable  of  preparing  his  own 
food.  Yet  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  and  nearly  everywhere 
among  the  gentry,  the  art  of  cooking  is  well  understood,  both  in 
theory  and  practice.  A  vast  nrany  European  gentlemen  can  be 


256  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


found,  who  know  perfectly  well  when  a  dinner  is  properly  cooked, 
and  in  a  case  of  emergency,  are  capable  of  cooking  it  them- 
selves.  In  the  symmetry  of  our  persons,  in  making  the  human 
figure  what  it  should  be,  or  what  it  is  capable  of  being,  few  peo- 
ple, savage  or  civilized,  are  behind  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  In  this  country,  symmetry  of  figure  is  almost  entirely 
neglected  by  every  class  of  people,  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor, 
ignorant  or  educated.  In  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  a 
perfectly  formed  man  is  a  great  rarity ;  seldom,  very  seldom 
seen.  If  there  is  one  designation  that  applies  to  us  more  than  an- 
other,  it  is  that  of  a  round-shouldered  stooping- race.  Considering 
the  high  intelligence  of  the  people  of  this  country,  the  Universal 
neglect  of  these  great  subjects  seems  almost  unaccountable.  The 
results  are  truly  appalling,  filling  our  country  in  its  whole  length 
and  breadth  with  chronic  diseases.  Few,  very  few,  of  our  peo- 
ple enjoy  uninterruptedly  good  health  from  youth  to  age.  Num. 
bers  are  cut  off  in  the  spring-time  of  their  existence.  Prema- 
ture old  age  invades  vast  multitudes,  whilst  a  hale,  hearty  old 
man  is  rarely  seen.  From  ignorance  of  the  best  principles  of 
health,  errors  in  diet,  and  neglect  of  symmetry  in  our  persons, 
result  liver  complaints,  dyspepsia,  and  pulmonary  consumption, 
and  numerous  other  diseases  that  now  pervade  our  country  to  an 
alarming  extent,  and  awfully  shorten  the  duration  of  human  life. 
Why  this  ignorance  on  these  great  subjects?  Because  it  is 
everywhere  considered  too  effeminate  for  a  man  to  attend  to  the 
subject  of  health.  This  is  reserved  for  invalids,  and  they  very 
rarely  regard  it  until  far  too  late  for  their  own  restoration;  and 
although  they  may  lift  their  voice  of  warning,  their  words  usual, 
ly  pass  by  unheeded.  In  general,  we  possess  a  most  beautiful 
climate,  and  the  best  materials  for  food,  in  the  most  superfluous 
abundance,  and  every  material  for  our  physical  formation,  and 
the  means  of  producing  the  most  perfect  constitutions,  so  as  to 
create  the  healthiest  and  longest  lived  race  of  men  in  the  world. 
Tc  effect  this,  to  banish  premature  disease  from  our  laad,  to  be- 
stow universal  and  perfect  health,  and  grant  the  longest  continu- 
ance and  endurance  to  our  lives,  all  that  is  required  is  correct 
knowledge  on  the  subject  of  health,  and  the  knowledge  of  those 
facts  and  principles  from  which  human  health  is  derived  and  con- 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  257 

tinned.  The  human  frame  is  a  machine  as  mechanically  formed 
as  a  watch.  It  is  mechanically  formed,  and  acts  upon  mecha- 
nical principles,  and  all  its  operations  are  capable  of  being  under- 
stood ;  if  not  as  yet  perfectly  understood  in  all  its  parts  and 
operations,  it  is  not  owing  to  anything  incomprehensible  in  its 
physical  or  corporeal  structure. 

Had  the  human  frame  never  have  been  described  by  any  per- 
sons, except  mechanics,  and  those  descriptions  never  clothed  in 
any  language,  save  the  simple  language  of  each  country,  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  a  general  knowledge  of  the  human  frame, 
and  its  diseases,  would  have  been  advanced  hundreds  of  years. 
The  human  machine  is  made  for  long  endurance.  It  is  endowed 
with  the  highest  powers  of  self- reparation ;  and,  were  it  not  for  the 
continued  war  of  ignorant,  luxurious,  and  effeminated  man  on  his 
own  frame,  the  human  machine  would  always  last,  barring  acci- 
dents, from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  years.  I  believe  I  may 
*  assert,  without  the  least  fear  of  contradiction,  that  no  human  being 
ever  yet  died  of  old  age,  until  he  had  passed  one  hundred  years. 
Death  occurring  sooner,  nearly  always  results  from  previous  er- 
rors of  life,  or  from  accident  or  disease.  Man  is  confessedly 
the  lord  of  creation ;  and  can  we,  for  a  moment,  entertain  the 
idea,  that  he  is  created  to  be  far  shorter-lived  than  many  of  the 
brute  creation  ?  It  is  well  known  to  naturalists,  that  many  birds 
and  animals  have  lived  to  over  one  hundred  years.  The  raven 
is  one  of  these,  and  the  eagle  is  another.  It  is  but  a  short  time 
since,  that  an  eagle,  apparently  in  the  most  vigorous  health,  was 
shot  upon  the  Jura, Mountains,  in  France,  having  around  his  neck 
a  gold  ring,  which,  by  the  date  upon  it,  showed  that  the  eagle 
had  worn  it  upwards  of  eighty  years.  I  do  not  recollect  the  his- 
tory of  any  animal  whose  real  or  reasonably  supposed  age  is  as 
great  as  that  of  the  well  authenticated  age  of  many  modern  men. 

To  prove  to  you  that  the  human  machine  is  made  to  endure 
from  one  .hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty,  or  more,  years,  I  have 
only  to  present  to  you  one  well  authenticated  instance  of  this  age 
having  been  attained  by  man.  But,  in  place  of  one  instance, 
thousands  of  instances  can  be  adduced ;  and  where  one  case  of 
longevity  is  recorded,  there  is  no  doubt  that  hundreds  die  unno- 
ticed, and  unrecorded.  Now  then,  allow  me  to  ask,  is  God  un- 


258  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

equal  ?  Are  his  laws  made  for  each  individual  life,  or  for  all 
lives  ?  And  are  we  so  constructed,  that  the  same  principles, 
the  same  circumstances,  and  the  same  causes,  that  allowed  one 
man  to  reach  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  will  not  allow  every 
other  man  to  do  the  same  ?  I  answer,  that  the  laws  of  life  and 
the  causes  of  longevity  are  applicable  to  every  human  being; 
and,  if  thoroughly  and  universally  understood,  and  correctly  and 
faithfully  applied,  all  .men  might  easily  attain  to  old  age,  and  the 
average  of  human  life,  instead  of  thirty-three  years,  might  take 
its  place  at  one  hundred  years,  thus  trebling  the  duration  of  our 
earthly  existence.  The  object  of -this  lecture  is  to  adduce  in- 
stances of  longevity,  and  present  those  rules  by -which,  saving 
accidents,  it  may  always  be  attained. 

Passing  over  the  antediluvians,  whose  ages  come  down  to 
us  represented  of  almost  fabulous  length,  extended  to  even  nine 
hundred  years,  and  given  to  us  under  the  highest  authority, 
we  descend  to  men  of  modern  times, — within  the  reach  of  modern 
history.  Thomas  Parr,  as  recorded  by  Lord  Francis  Bacon, 
was  born  in  1483,  and  died  in  1635,  aged  one  hundred  and 
fifty-two  years.  He  died,  not  from  the  disease  or  decay  of  a 
single  organ,  but  from  too  great  fullness  of  blood,  caused  by 
more  than  usual  indulgence  in  eating  and  drinking.  He  had 
led  an  active  country  life,  and  enjoying  country  air  and  ex- 
ercise ;  but  was  invited  to  London,  where  luxurious  eating  and 
drinking  soon  finished  him.  His  body  was  examined  by  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Harvey,  discoverer  of  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  who  has  left  an  account  of  the  examination.  Parr 
enjoyed  good  health  for  a  century  and  a  half. 

Thirty-five  years  after  the  death  of  Parr,  Henry  Jenkins,  of 
Yorkshire,  England,  died,  aged  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
years.  He  was  born  in  1501,  and  died  in  1670.  His  age  is  fully 
authenticated,  and  is  the  greatest  among  the  moderns.  John 
Effingham,  of  Cornwall,  England,  died,  aged  one  hundred  and 
forty-seven  years.  James  Lawrence,  a  Scotchman,  lived  one 
hundred  and  forty  years.  About  the  year  1790,  Joseph  Sur- 
rington  died  at  Bergen,  Norway,  aged  one  hundred  and  sixty 
years.  In  1772,  a  man  named  Drakenburg  died  in  Denrnark, 
in  the  one  hundred  and  forty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  In  1825, 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  259 

Pope  Leo  XII.  granted  to  a  poor  man  living  near  lake  Thrasi- 
mene,  in  Italy,  a  pension  on  account  of  his  great  age ;  he  was 
then  an  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  old.  He  died  aged  one 
hundred  and  thirty  years.  In  1830,  a  man  died  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, aged  one  hundred  and  thirty  years.  I  knew  a  man  in 
the  island  of  Cuba,  who  was  an  hundred  and  twenty  years  old ; 
he  was  able  to  ride  on  horseback  sixty  miles  in  a  day,  and  re- 
turn home  the  next.  We  will  now  come  to  our  own  country. 
In  1820,  a  man  named  Henry  Francisco  died  at  Whitehall,  in 
the  state  of  New- York,  aged  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years. 
He  beat  the  drum  at  the  coronation  of  Queen  Anne,  and  was  then 
sixteen  years  of  age  ;  he  did  not  die  of  old  age,  but  of  the  ague 
and  fever.  I  forgot  to  mention  the  name  of  Dr.  Mead,  who  was 
consulting  physician  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-eight  years.  John  Hightower,  residing  in 
Marengo  county,  Alabama,  died  January,  1845,  aged  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  years.  William  Prigden,  of  Maryland, 
died  October,  1845,  aged  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  years. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Harvey,  a  Baptist  clergyman,  residing  at  Frank- 
fort, in  the  state  of  New- York,  is  now  in  the  active  and  useful 
discharge  of  his  clerical  duties,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and 
eleven  years.  This  very  year  he  presided  at  a  convention  of  the 
Baptist  clergy,  and  is  perhaps  the  oldest  clergyman  m  the  world 
who  is  able  to  discharge  his  clerical  duties.  A  Mr.  Blakewell, 
residing  near  Greenville,  North  Carolina,  was  living  a  short  time 
since,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years.  A  colored 
man  named  Syphax,  in  fine  vigorous  health,  was  living  last  year 
in  Cumberland  county,  Virginia,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  years.  The  Montreal  Times,  October,  1846,  trans- 
lates the  following  from  the  Revue  Canadienne  :  "  An  old  man 
died  at  Wexford,  Upper  Canada,  a  short  time  since,  named  Daniel 
Atkin,  but  rejoiced  in  the  soubriquet  of  Black  Dan.  At  the  time 
of  his  decease,  he  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  of  age  ;  and 
during  his  life  had  contracted  seven  marriages,  by  whom  he  had 
had  an  incredible  number  of  children,  grand-children,  and  great- 
grand-children,  in  all  about  five  hundred  and  seventy — three 
hundred  and  seventy  of  whom  are  boys,  and  two  hundred  girls." 
I  have  already  enumerated  as  many  cases  as  our  purpose 


260  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

demands.  They  show  to  us  conclusively,  how  long  the  human 
machine  may  continue  its  existence — by  how  long  it  has  been 
known  to  continue.  I  think  no  fact  is  better  proved,  than  that 
the  human  frame  is  formed  to  last  over  one  hundred  years,  that 
no  man  ever  died  of  old  age  until  after  one  hundred  years,  and 
that  every  man  may  live  to  one  hundred  years,  provided  he  does 
ot  war  upon  his  own  frame,  and  provided,  as  I  have  before  re- 
marked, that  he  follows  judiciously  the  laws  of  health,  commits 
few  errors  in  his  diet,  and  preserves  the  symmetry  of  his  person. 
Let  us  now  discuss  a  few  of  the  principles  that  form  the 
basis  of  health,  and  indicate  the  path  of  longevity. 

GRAND  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  FRAME. 

In  the  first  place,  allow  me  to  remark  to  you,  that  the  human 
system,  upon  examination,  falls  at  once  into  three  great  divisions, 
each  division,  in  its  object  and  purpose,  totally  distinct  from  all 
the  others.  The  first  of  the  divisions  is  found  in  the  brain,  com- 
prising the  organs  of  the  intellect,  through  which,  or  by  which, 
the  mind  of  man  receives  knowledge,  and  retains  it,  and  acts 
upon  it  ;  and,  through  the  medium  of  the  will,  and  the  connec- 
tions of  the  nervous  system,  governs  the  whole  frame  of  man. 
The  organs  of  this  first  division  reside  exclusively  in  the  region 
of  the  brain,  and  are  waited  upon  by  the  senses,  their  servants. 
The  second  great  division  is  found  in  all  those  organs  that  give 
the  power  of  self-reparation  to  the  human  machine,  making  this 
machine  totally  distinct  from  any  machine  ever  invented  by  man, 
as  it  is  capable,  when  supplied  with  its  proper  food,  of  repairing 
its  own  waste,  and  thus  perpetuating  its  own  existence  for  a  great 
many  years.  Those  parts  of  the  body  included  in  this  division, 
or  the  principal  parts,  are  the  lungs,  the  heart,  the  stomach,  the 
bowels,  the  kidneys,  the  bladder,  and  the  limbs,  with  their  sub- 
ordinate connections.  The  next  great  division  are  those  organs 
that  serve  to  propagate  the  species.  Allow  me  to  recapitulate, 
that  the  three  divisions  are, — first,  to  supply  food  to  the  mind  ; 
secondly,  to  repair  the  body  ;  and,  thirdly,  to  propagate  the  spe- 
cies. Now,  analyse  man  as  much  as  you  please, — investigate 
him  as  minutely  as  you  choose, — scrutinize  him  from  every  point 
of  view,  and  you  will  find  this  is  all  there  is  of  him,  and  all  you 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  261 

can  make  of  him.  All  his  almost  infinitely  varied  pursuits,  oc- 
cupations, and  excitements,  will  be  found  to  fall  into  one  or  other 
of  these  divisions  ;  and  that  all  the  impulses  of  life,  and  stimulus 
to  action,  owe  their  origin  to  one  or  other  of  these  divisions.  On 
their  harmony  with  each  other,  very  much  depends  the  continu- 
ance of  life.  To  have  all  these  organs  in  full  development,  no 
one  outstripping  the  others,  nor  acting  at  the  expense  of  the  others, 
is  a  grand  desideratum,  and  forms  the  basis  of  health,  and  lays  a 
sure  foundation  for  longevity.  I  have  in  previous  lectures  re- 
ferred  to  the  uses  of  the  lungs.  Allow  me  again  to  remark,  that 
pure,  healthy  air  is  their  natural  food, — that  they  strive  for  the 
air,  and  continually  pant  for  it, — that  no  person  can  have  good 
health  for  any  length  of  time,  unless  he  breathes  pure,  whole- 
some air,  and  a  plenty  of  it  ;  and  hence  the  exceeding  value  of  a 
change  of  air  to  the  sick,  to  invalids,  and  to  persons  worn  down 
by  continued  laborious  occupation.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  a 
change  of  air  will  often  do  more  for  sick  and  worn-out  persons, 
than  all  the  medicines  in  the  world. 

MANNER  OF  FORMING  A  FINE  CHEST. 

I  have,  in  my  lecture  upon  the  uses  of  lungs,  remarked  that 
the  chest  is  a  basket  of  bones,  so  constituted  and  framed  as  to 
be  most  remarkably  under  the  government  of  the  will,  and,  to- 
tally unlike  any  other  bony  cavity  of  our  bodies,  it  can  be 
enlarged  or  diminished  at  pleasure.  (See  plates  A  and  B.)  The 
first  and  natural  mode  of  enlarging  the  chest,  is  by  breathing, 
by  inhaling  the  air.  The  lungs,  I  should  say,  are  air-bags,  hung 
up  on  each  side  of  the  chest,  and  folded  into  cells  comparable  to 
the  honey-comb,  and  capable  of  being  immensely  expanded,  or  cor 
respondingly  contracted.  The  largest  lung  may  be  made  to  hold 
a  gallon,  or  so  reduced  as  not  to  hold  one  gill.  Now,  the  larger 
the  lungs,  and  the  more  air  they  can  receive  and  digest,  the 
stronger  and  healthier  they  will  be.  They  will  also  enjoy  an  ex- 
emption from  disease,  almost  exactly  in  the  ratio  of  their  large 
and  full  development.  These  changes  in  the  lungs  would,  of 
course,  produce  corresponding  changes  in  the  basket  that  encloses 
them, — the  chest  becoming  broader,  larger,  and  fuller.  No  one 
should  be  afraid  of  the  air,  but  consume  as  much  of  it  as  possible, 


262  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

by  taking  long  breaths ; — draw  in  all  the  air  you  can.  Make  a 
practice,  many  times  a  day,  when  in  pure  air,  and  especially 
when  in  pure,  cold  air,  to  suck  in  all  the  air  you  can,  and,  in  this 
way,  strain  the  chest  open  to  its  utmost  dimensions,  and  hold  the 
air  in  the  chest  as  long  as  you  can,  and  blow  strongly  upon  it, 
not  allowing  it,  however,  to  escape  from  the  mouth  until  forced  to 
do  so.  Should  the  person  be  of  a  stooping  figure,  or  of  a  con- 
tracted, narrow,  stooping  chest,  let  him,  on  rising  from  bed  in  the 
morning,  and  as  many  times  during  the  day  as  he  pleases,  draw 
in  the  air  as  long  as  he  can,  and  fill  the  chest  to  its  utmost  capa- 
city ;  now  hold  in  the  air,  and  throw  back  the  head  and  neck  as 
far  as  possible,  and,  at  the  same  time,  throw  back  theN  arms  and 
shoulders  with  sudden  jerks,  as  if  to  tear  the  shoulders  from  the 
back  of  the  chest,  at  the  same  time  retaining  the  air  in  the  lungs. 
If  the  lungs  are  kept  full  of  air  during  this  exercise,  on  throwing 
back  the  head,  neck,  and  shoulders,  the  air  in  the  lungs  becomes 
an  elastic  cushion,  that  acts  powerfully  on  the  inside  of  the  chest, 
lifting  the  ribs  and  breast-bone  outward,  upward,  and  back- 
ward, and,  in  this  way,  rapidly  enlarging  the  chest,  and  greatly 
assisting  to  give  it  full  size  and  perfect  symmetry. 

This  exercise  of  the  chest  should  be  practised  on  rising  from 
bed,  and  repeatedly  during  the  day.  Another  great  assistance 
in  forming  a  large  chest,  is  to  habituate  ourselves  always  to 
speak  or  sing  from  a  full  chest, — that  is,  when  singing  or 
speaking,  we  should  never  sing  or  speak  from  a  half-filled 
chest.  We  should  always  remember,  that  the  vocal  organs, 
in  singing  or  speaking,  are  placed  in  a  proper  position,  and  then 
a  current  of  air  is  more  or  less  forcibly  dashed  upon  them  from 
the  lungs,  and  that  the  strength  of  the  tones  and  the  power  of  the 
voice  depend  upon  the  volume,  the  density,  and  the  momentum 
of  this  current  of  air.  Now,  any  speaker,  or  singer,  who  at- 
tempts to  speak  or  sing  from  a  half-filled  chest,  will  soon  greatly 
injure  his  vocal  organs  ;  his  voice  will  become  weak,  his  throat 
become  irritable  and  inflamed,  his  windpipe  injured,  the  upper 
part  of  his  chest  become  flat  and  contracted,  and  much  pain  at 
the  top  of  the  chest :  to  these,  singing  and  speaking  is  a  great  in- 
jury ;  but  to  those  who  always,  when  singing,  or  speaking,  do  so 
from  a  chest  well  filled  with  air,  these  exercises  rapidly  enlarge 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  263 

the  chest,  and  give  great  power  and  firmness  to  the  vocal  organs. 
I  met,  two  years  since,  a  young  gentleman,  who,  alone,  and  un- 
assisted, gave  a  concert  in  a  large  house  at  New  Haven,  in  Con- 
necticut. He  told  me,  that,  originally,  he  had  a  very  small,  con- 
tracted chest,  and  was  a  teacher  of  the  piano  forte  ;  necessity 
compelled  him  to  become  a  teacher  of  vocal  music  \  hut  his  chest 
was  so  narrow,  and  contracted,  and  his  voice  so  weak,  that  he  al- 
most despaired  of  being  able  to  accomplish  singing  ;  yet,  by  prac- 
tising as  I  have  mentioned,  and  inhaling  the  air,  his  chest  began 
rapidly  to  expand,  so  that,  in  three  years,  his  voice  acquired  a 
power  and  compass  that  enabled  him  to  pronounce  words  so  as  to 
be  heard  distinctly  one  mile.  His  chest  was  one  of  the  largest 
I  ever  saw.  Persons  who  pursue  a  sedentary  occupation,  and 
students  and  scholars,  besides  taking  long  breaths  while  sitting, 
should,  at  least  once  or  twice  an  hour,  rise  up  from  their  seats, 
walk  about  the  room -for  a  few  moments,  and  fully  and  thoroughly 
expand  the  chest,  and  throw  the  shoulders  off  of  the  chest,  as  I 
have  before  directed.  Those  persons  who  have  very  considerable 
weakness  about  the  chest,  and  more  or  less  pain,  should  com- 
mence these  exercises  kindly  arid  carefully,  and  kindly  habituate 
the  chest  to  gradual  changes,  so  that  it  will  become  freely  and 
fully  enlarged,  without  occasioning  pain,  or  producing  any  incon- 
venience whatever. 

THE  PROPER  CARRIAGE  AND  POSITION  OF 
THE  CHEST. 

The  next  step  to  the  possession  and  continuance  of  a  fine  chest, 
is  to  learn  to  carry  it  well,  and  choose  such  a  position  for  it  as 
never  to  allow  it  to  fall  forward.  In  this  respect,  there  is  a  most 
astonishing  difference  between  the  Anglo-Americans  and  the 
Europeans.  The  latter,  as  a  general  rule,  have  strait,  erect 
chests,  whilst  the  Anglo-Americans  most  commonly  have  stooping, 
flat  chests.  In  walking,  dancing,  and  all  pedestrian  exercises, 
the  chest  should  be  kept  perfectly  erect,  and  rather  falling  back- 
wards ;  at  the  same  time  the  head  and  neck  should  stan^l  plumb 
to  the  spine,  not  in  a  stiff  and  formal  way,  but  in  an  easy  and 
graceful  manner,  which  habit  will  soon  enable  us  to  do.  In  sit- 
ting on  horseback,  or  in  a  carriage,  the  chest  and  person  should, 


264  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


at  all  events,  be  kept  perfectly  strait,  and  not  allow  the  head, 
neck,  chest,  and  spine  to  be  bent  and  crushed  forward,  like  the 
half  of  a  hoop,  as  we  may  notice  every  day. 

The  drivers  and  conductors  of  coaches,  in  England,  are  usu- 
ally among  the  straitest  men  we  meet,  and  consumption  is  very 
rarely  met  with  among  them.  They  usually  sit  perfectly  strait 
and  erect.  In  this  country,  I  have  been  repeatedly  consulted  by 
stage-drivers,  in  confirmed  consumption,  brought  on,  or  at  least 
strongly  predisposed  to  it,  by  sitting  in  a  contracted,  bent  po- 
sition while  driving  their  horses.  Persons  pursuing  sedentary 
occupations,  such  as  clerks,  students,  watchmakers,  and  men 
pursuing  sedentary  and  otherwise  light  occupations,  boys  at 
school,  &c.,  are  apt,  and  that  most  unnecessarily,  to  bend  the 
chest  foward,  throwing  the  shoulders  upon  the  chest,  (see  plate  T) 

Plate  T. 


— in  this  manner  extremely  contracting  the  chest,  especially 
at  its  base,  and  in  this  way  rapidly  predisposing  to  pulmonary 
consumption.  One  would  suppose,  by  the  position  of  writing- 
masters  *and  students,  at  the  writing-desk,  that  they  supposed  the 
shoulders  or  eyes,  or  head,  had  something  to  do  with  the  me- 
chanical  performance  of  writing.  The  hand  and  fingers  alone 
are  called  into  exercise  while  writing- 

- 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  «65 

During  a  series  of  years  in  the  occupation  of  writing,  far  more 
may  be  done  by  choosing  a  perfectly  erect  posture,  not  bending 
the  head  or  chest  at  all,  and  with  not  one  half  the  fatigue.  In 
all  these  occupations,  the  elegance  of  the  person  may  be  perfectly 
preserved,  the  symmetry:  of  figure  not  in  the  least  impaired,  the 
natural  form  of  the  chest  will  be  continued,  and  round  shoulders 
prevented  ;  at  the  same  time  more  labor  can  be  performed  with 
vastly  less  fatigue.  To  correct  this  false  position  taken  by  stu- 
dents, clerks,  artificers,  &c.,  the  tables  at  which  they  sit  snculd 
be  raised  up  very  high,  reaching  nearly  or  quite  to  the  arm-pits, 
and  then  sitting  or  standing  close  to  the  table,  but  without  press- 
ing the  breast  against  it.  They  will  soon  find  that  the  chest  will 
expand;  instead  of  contracting,  whilst  employed  at  the  writing, 
desk  or  work-bench.  You,  that  are  fathers,  should  follow  your 
children  to  the  school-house,  and  be  most  particular  that  the 
writing-desk  at  which  they  study,  or  on  which  their  books  are 
placed,  should  be  raised  so  high  that  the  child  could  not  contract 
its  chest.  Little  boys  at  their  study  should  never  be  allowed  to 
make  a  table  of  their  laps,  but  should  always  sit  behind  a  table 
on  which  their  books  are  placed,  and  these  should  be  raised  nearly 
as  high  as  the  throat.  Habit  will  soon  render  it  far  easier  for 
boys  to  write  or  study  at  a  comparatively  very  high  table,  than  at 
a  low  one. 

BAD  EFFECTS   PRODUCED  BY  A  VICIOUS  POSITION 
OF  THE  CHEST. 

1  have  in  a  former  lecture  pointed  out  the  pernicious  and 
destructive  effects  produced  upon  the  lungs,  by  allowing  the 
basket  of  the  chest  to  contract  around  them.  But  it  is  not  the 
lungs  alone  that  suffer  from  this  contraction  of  the  chest.  The  heart 
laying  partly  under  the  breast-bone, — (see  plate  C,) — is  the  great 
centre  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  It  is  a  large  fleshy  organ, 
and  quite  unlike  the  lungs, — allows  no  pressure  upon  it  with  im- 
punity. I  am  inclined  to  think  that  three-fourths  of  the  cases  of 
heart-disease  are  produced  by  pressure  of  the  ribs,  or  breast- 
bone, upon  it,  so  that  the  heart  has  not  room  to  play,  and  freely 
perform  its  functions.  Pressure  upon  the  heart  may  produce  im- 
mediately heart-disease  ;  or,  by  retarding  the  circulation  of 
12 


866  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

blood,  it  may  produce  dropsy  ;  or,  by  preventing  the  return  of 
the  blood  from  the  head,  will  produce  apoplexy,  or  fits.  As  men 
advance  in  life,  they  nearly  all,  more  or  less,  increase  their  flesh, 
and  with  it  somewhat  an  enlargement  of  the  heart.  Now,  if,  at 
the  same  time,  by  a  stooping,  contracted  position,  the  chest  is 
allowed  to  press  upon  the  heart,  distressing  consequences  are  apt 
to  ensue  ;  liver  complaint,  dyspepsia,  palpitation  of  the  heart, 
shortness  of  breath,  paralytic  strokes,  &c.,  may  take  place,  in 
addition  to  the  diseases  I  have  already  named.  (See  pages  115-116, 
in  Lecture  II.,  for  two  cases  of  heart  disease,  produced  by  the 
breast-bone  falling  upon  the  heart.) 

I  will  here  hazard  a  remark  that  I  have  often  made,  but  which 
may  not  be  universally  correct.  It  is,  that  tailors,  either  from 
pride  or  ambition,  or  from  some  other  cause,  have  much  better 
figures  than  shoemakers,  whilst  their  occupation  differs  but  very 
little  in  the  amount  of  stooping  practised  by  them.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  tailors  and  shoemakers  may  pursue  their  occupations 
during  a  long  life,  and  yet  perfectly  preserve  their  figures,  and  in 
this  way  preserve  their  health.  It  is  only  to  habituate  themselves 
to  sit  perfectly  strait  at  their  work.  To  prove  this,  I  will  give 
one  case  : — In  April,  1844,  I  was  consulted  at  Springfield,  in 
Massachusetts,  by  a  young  shoemaker.  He  told  me  that  his  fa- 
ther died  of  consumption,  and  that  he  was  himself  early  placed  at 
the  occupation  of  shoemaking,  and  had  contracted  the  habit  of 
stooping  at  his  work,  as  much  as  any  other  shoemaker.  At 
twenty-one  years  of  age  he  found  his  health  rapidly  declining, 
with  cough,  and  every  symptom  of  commencing  consumption.  He 
was  fully  aware  that  his  occupation  was  very  injurious  to  him, 
and  that  this  injury  was  produced  by  stooping,  and  excessive  con- 
traction of  the  chest  while  at  his  work.  To  remedy  this,  he  de- 
termined to  sit  up  perfectly  strait  at  his  work,  and  not  to  bend  hi* 
neck,  cheat,  or  the  small  of  his  lack  at  all,  whilst  pursuing  his  occu 
pation.  He  told  me  that  no  one  could  tell  what  he  suffered  for 
the  first  six  months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  had  entirely 
broken  up  the  habit  of  stooping,  and  could  work  and  sit  up  erect 
the  entire  day,  without  experiencing  anything  like  the  former 
fcligue,  produced  whilst  stooping.  He  could  do  quite  as  much 
as  at  any  time  before.  This  change  of  position  at  his  work 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  867 

soon  relieved  him  of  all  symptoms  of  consumption.  When  he 
called  on  me  he  was  enjoying  excellent  health,  and  freedom  from 
all  difficulty  about  the  chest. 

POSITION  OF  THE  SHOULDERS. 

One  great  antagonist  to  perfect  symmetry  of  the  chest  is  often 
found  in  the  position  of  the  shoulders.  When  the  human  figure 
is  in  perfect  symmetry,  the  shoulder-blades  lay  flat  against  the 
back  of  the  chest,  and  the  arms  hang  from  the  shoulders  in  such 
a  way  that  the  weight  of  the  arms  and  shoulders  falls  behind  the 
chest,  and  thus  drags  the  front  part  of  the  chest  upwards  and  back- 
wards. (See  plate  A,  fig.  1.)  To  keep  the  shoulders  and  shoul- 
der-blades behind  the  chest,  and  not  allow  them  to  press  upon 
it,  the  great  Architect  of  the  frame  of  man  has  placed  two  firm 
bones,  extending  from  the  top  of  the  breast-bone,  on  each  side, 
outward  and  backward,  to  the  under-side  of  the  outer  and  upper 
point  of  the  shoulder-bone.  These  are  the  collar-bones.  (See 
plate  A,  fig.  2.) 

These  collar-bones  are  natural  shoulder-braces.  Now,  then, 
as  long  as  we  habituate  ourselves  to  carry  the  arms  and  shoulders 
behind  the  chest,  or  in  such  a  manner  that  their  weight  falls  be- 
hind the  chest,  we  shall  always  preserve  its  symmetry,  and  have 
fine  full  chests.  This  is  the  case  with  the  American  Indians, 
and  contributes  to  bestow  upon  them  their  strait,  commanding  and 
symmetrical  figures.  Upon  noticing  any  of  your  children,  who 
are  under  three  years  of  age,  unless  deformed  by  disease,  you  will 
find  that  their  shoulders  lay  Hat  upon  the  back  of  their  chests,  and 
that  when  walking,  standing  or  sitting,  the  weight  of  the  should- 
ers and  arms  falls  behind  the  chest,  and  not  before  it.  Our  child, 
ren  seldom  show  any  indications  of  round  shoulders  until  after 
they  are  sent  to  school,  where,  in  general,  they  rapidly  learn  to 
contract  the  chest  and  round  the  shoulders.  Unfortunately  for 
civilized  people,  and  particularly  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  these  great  truths  are  very  little  known,  and  of  course  very 
little  appreciated.  At  a  very  early  period,  with  scarcely  a  thought 
of  its  bad  consequences,  either  upon  health  or  elegance  of  figure, 
at  nearly  all  of  our  occupations,  relaxations,  and  even  amuse- 
its,  we  commence  stooping  and  throwing  the  shoulders  forward 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


upon  the  chest.  This  forward  movement  of  the  shoulders  is,  in 
some  degree,  arrested  by  the  natural  shoulder-braces,  the  collar, 
bones,  b'ut  not  entirely  so. 

The  pressure  upon  these  bones  causes  them  to  bend,  in  some 
cases,  very  considerably.     The   weight  of  the  pressure  of  the 
shoulders   forward  is  transmitted  by  the  collar-bones,  and  con- 
tributes very  much  to  press  the  breast-bone  downward  and  back- 
ward, and  with  it  all  the  ribs  that  are  attached  to  it,  thus  lessening 
the  size  of  the  chest,  and  causing  it  to  press  upon  the  heart  and 
lungs.     During  this  process,  the  spine  of  the  neck  is  more  or  less 
thrust   forward,   and   the   shoulder-blades   are   thrown   outward, 
upward  and  forward,  so  as,  more  or  less,  in  proportion  to  these 
changes,  to  make  the  person  hump-backed  or  round-shouldered. 
This  sets  the  arms  permanently  forward,  and  instead  of  hang- 
ing perpendicularly  at  the  side,  rather  behind  the  chest,  so  that 
all  ti.eir  weight,  together  with  the  whole  weight  of  the  shoulders, 
is  thrown  behind,  and  drags  the  chest  backward.     In  place  of 
all  this,  the  arms  are  thrown  downward  and  forward,  obliquely, 
across  the  chest,  carrying  with  them  all  their  own  weight  and 
the  weight  of  the  shoulders  and  shoulder-blades,  with  all  their 
fleshy  attachments,  forming  a  very  great  weight,  crushing  down 
the  chest,  contracting  and  lessening  it  everywhere,  especially  at 
its  base.     Such  a  person,  in  walking,  standing,  or  at  his  occupa- 
tion, carries  an  absolute  pack  upon  his  back,  little  less  fatiguing 
to  bear  than  that  of  any  foreign  body  that  he  may  choose  to  place 
upon  his  shoulders.     Fully  one  half  of  the  fatigue  of  walking, 
standing,  or  of  all  light  occupations,  is  produced  by  the  weight  of 
the  shoulders  and  arms  upon  the  chest.     This  pressure  of  the 
shoulders  and  arms  upon  the  chest  is  extremely  apt  to  produce 
pain  between  the  shoulders  and  under  the  shoulder-blades,  and 
a  sense  of  exceeding  weariness  in  the  shoulders.     Pain  in  the 
bones  of  the  neck,  down  the  whole  length  of  the  spine,  in  the 
small  of  the  back,  &c.,  very  frequently  arises  from  this  dragging 
of  the  shoulders  forward. 

THE  REMEDY  FOR  ROUND  SHOULDERS. 

The  remedy  for  round   shoulders  I  have  partly  indicated  be- 
P>re,  when  I  directed  you,  in  order  to  form  a  fine  chest,  to  take 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  269 

long  breaths,  and  in  this  way  to  fully  expand  the  chest,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  jerk  the  shoulders  downward,  backward,  and 
off  of  the  chest.  I  also  directed  you  to  capry  the  chest  perfectly 
erect  and  strait,  and  never  voluntarily  to  stoop,  and  throw  the 
chest  forward,  either  in  standing,  walking,  riding,  or  sitting,  nor 
to  stoop  whilst  writing,  studying,  or  at  work-bench  occupations. 
Now,  in  addition  to  these,  I  will  mention,  that  tying  the  shoulders 
together  is  a  powerful  assistant  in  preventing  their  displacement ; 
for  you  will  recollect  that  the  shoulder-blades,  in  order  to  go  for- 
ward,  and  upward,  also  pass  very  much  outward.  Now,  tying 
them  firmly  together  will  almost  entirely  prevent  this  change  in 
their  position.  This  leads  me  to  introduce  to  your  notice 

SHOULDER-BRACES— (we  Plate  J,) 

— or  TRAMMELS,  as  they  are  sometimes  called.  The  object  of 
these  instruments  is  to  prevent  the  shoulder-blades  from  spread- 
ing apart,  and  to  keep  them  in  their  natural  position,  flat  against 
!*  the  back  of  the  chest,  and  thus  prevent  their  rising  upward,  and 
falling  forward.  The  shoulder-brace  should,  at  the  same  time, 
firmly  support  the  whole  spine,  and  the  small  of  the  back.  Shoul- 
der-braces do  not  perform  their  whole  duty,  unless  they  fully 
support  the  small  of  the  back,  as  a  disposition  to  stoop  frequently 
commences  by  a  weakness  in  the  small  of  the  back.  Shoulder- 
braces  are  not  a  new  invention  ;  they  have  been  worn  by  civil- 
ized  people  for  hundreds  of  years,  and  even  by  uncivilized  peo- 
ple. I  was  consulted  about  two  years  ago,  by  an  old  Indian 
woman,  for  a  pain  in  her  back,  which  she  had  had  for  fourteen 
years,  and  could  obtain  no  relief.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  curing 
her  in  a  few  days.  She  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  in  her  tribe 
as  a  doctress.  She  imparted  to  me  a  knowledge  of  many  of  her 
best  remedies,  as  a  grateful  return  for  the  assistance  I  had  ren- 
dered her.  Among  other  things,  she  told  me  that  forty  years  be- 
fore, when  she  was  a  young  woman,  she  had  experienced  a  great 
deal  of  pain  in  and  between  her  shoulders,  and  also  weakness 
and  pain  in  her  spine.  At  that  time,  aided  by  advice  from  no 
one,  but  resulting  from  her  own  reflections,  she  had  come  to  the 
conclusion,  that  by  making  shoulder-braces  that  should  confine 
her  shoulders  closely  together,  and  support  the  spine,  they 


870  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

would  entirely  cure  her  spine  of  weakness,  and  all  the  pain  in 
her  shoulders  and  spine.  She  made  and  wore  the  shoulder- 
braces,  and  they  effectually  cured  her,  so  that  she  had  no  more 
pain  or  weakness  in  her  back  for  twenty-six  years.  Shoulder- 
braces  are  very  often  worn  by  officers  in  the  European  armies. 
Raw  recruits  in  those  armies,  who  are  crooked  in  their  person, 
and  ungainly  in  their  appearance,  often  have  stout  shoulder- 
braces  put  upon  them/  This  greatly  assists  in  making  them 
strait,  and  thus  gives  them  a  fine,  manly,  and  erect  carriage. 
Should  they  carry  the  head  too  much  forward,  or  bend  the  neck 
too  much,  this  is  corrected  by  a  wide,  stiff,  leather  stock,  that  is 
made  to  encircle  the  whole  length  of  the  neck,  and  lift  up  the  chin. 

HOW  SHOULDER-BRACES  SHOULD  BE  MADE. 
The  thoulder-braces  I  now  employ,  are  constructed  with  two 
elastic  pieces  of  cloth,  one  piece  resting  in  the  small  of  the  back, 
the  other  between  the  shoulders  ;  these  two  pieces  are  connectec 
by  cloth  bands,  and  by  two  firm  pieces  of  whalebone,  that  lay 
on  each  side  of  the  spine,  but  do  not  touch  it,  and  extend  from  the 
bottom  of  the  small  of  the  back  to  high  up  between  the  shoulders ; 
the  elastic  piece  in  the  small  of  the  back  is  retained  there  by  two 
broad  straps,  one  on  each  side,  that  are  fastened  to  the  elastic 
piece,  and  come  forward  just  above  the  hips,  and  buckle  firmly 
together  in  front  of  the  abdomen.  These  straps  nowhere  touch 
the  ribs.  To  the  elastic  piece  between  the  shoulders,  two  straps, 
one  on  each  side,  are  fastened,  that  cross  around  the  shoulders 
exactly  at  the  outer  end  of  the  collar-bone,  and  above  and  for- 
ward  of  the  ball  of  the  shoulder.  These  straps  are  so  joined  as 
to  be  drawn  backward,  as  firmly  as  you  please,  and  bring  the 
shoulders  entirely  off  the  chest.  The  elastic  piece  placed  be- 
t\veen  the  shoulders  allows  as  much  play  as  we  wish,  and  per- 
mits a  free  movement  of  the  shoulders  ;  and  as  soon  as  this 
movement  is  completed,  brings  them  back  to  their  place.  When 
1  first  began  to  employ  shoulder-braces,  I  had  them  made  with 
elastic  water- proof  stuff,  that  covered  the  whole  spine,  from  the 
11  of  the  back  to  the  root  of  the  neck.  But  I  soon  found  this  ' 
caused  a -real  deal  of  heat  in  the  spine,  and  tended  to  weaken  it  very 
much,  so  that  1  now  only  employ  a  small  piece  of  elastic  stuff  ^ 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  271 

between  the  shoulders  and  the  small  of  the  back.  I  have  parti- 
cularly cautioned  every  person  to  avoid  wearing  any  shoulder- 
braces  made  of  water-proof  stuff,  and  constructed  to  cover  the 
whole  spine,  from  the  neck  to  the  loins,  which  will  greatly  heat 
the  spine,  and  prevent  perspiration  from  passing  away  from  it,  so 
that  the  spine  will  be  very  rapidly  weakened  and  injured.  By 
confining  the  shoulders  firmly  back,  and  tying  them  together, 
we  cannot,  by  any  possibility,  bring  them  forward,  so  that  they 
will  crush  in  the  front  of  the  chest,  but  they  will  constantly  keep 
the  shoulders  behind  the  chest,  and  thus  cause  the  whole  weight 
of  the  shoulders  and  arms  to  fall  behind  it,  and  so  contribute 
rapidly  to  expand,  instead  of  contracting  it.  Many  persons  use 
one  hand,  arm,  and  shoulder,  much  more  than  the  other.  When 
this  is  done,  it  very  often  causes  weakness  and  pain  in  that 
shoulder,  and  a  much  greater  sense  of  fatigue  is  experienced  in  it 
than  in  the  one  less  used.  The  shoulder  thus  used  is  very  often 
dragged  forward,  out  of  its  place,  and  frequently  drags  the  spine 
to  that  side,  thus  producing  spine  disease  between  the  shoul- 
ders. The  preventive  of  this  is  a  well-adjusted  pair  of  shoulder- 
braces.  By  thus  tying  the  shoulders  together,  they  are  made  to 
bear  each  other's  burdens  ;  and  thus  their  labors  are  equalized, 
so  that  no  deformity  of  the  shoulders,  or  disease  of  the  spine,  can 
take  place,  whilst  a  sense  of  weariness,  or  fatigue,  will  not  be  felt 
in  one  more  than  in  the  other.  I  have  recommended  shoulder- 
braces  to  almost  every  class  of  persons,  and  almost  every  occu- 
pation, and  uniformly  with  benefit,  where  they  were  needed,  and 
judiciously  employed.  I  have  recommended  them,  with  advan- 
tage, to  clergymen,  lawyers,  physicians,  lecturers,  professors  in 
colleges,  teachers,  students,  watch-makers,  machinists,  workers 
in  cotton-mills,  stone-masons,  carpenters,  brick-layers,  dray- 
men, teamsters,  stage-drivers,  and,  in  fact,  almost  every  pro- 
fession, trade,  and  occupation.  I  have  had  plain  laboring  peo- 
ple declare  to  me,  over  and  over  again,  that  the  use  of  shoulder- 
braces  took  off  one  half  the  fatigue  of  their  labor.  One  of 
the  early  effects  of  shoulder-braces  is  to  remove  pain  from  be- 
tween the  shoulders^#nd  about  the  neck,  and  in  the  spine  of 
the  neck,  removing  it  from  about  the  top  of  the  chest,  and  in 
the  chest,  and  very  often  taking  away  all  pain  and  weakness 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


from  the  small  of  the  back.  They  are  a  most  valuable  arti- 
cle for  delicate  boys  going  to  school,  and  for  students  in  col- 
leges, and  delicate  lads,  and  young  men  who  are  employed  in 
stores,  counting-houses,  hotels,  &c. 

Sometimes  the  shoulder-braces  are  drawn  too  tightly  at  first, 
«o  as  to  make  them  irksome  to  the  wearer.  This  should  never 
e  done,  but  time  should  be  taken  to  habituate  ourselves  to  their 
use,  so  that  in  a  moderately  short  time  they  will  become  exceed- 
ingly pleasant  and  agreeable.  I  have  known  the  chest  enlarged 
around  its  base,  five  inches  in  circumference,  in  six  months,  by  no 
other  means  than  wearing  shoulder-  braces.  To  persons  who 
have  delicate  chests,  and  who  in  any  way  apprehend  consump- 
tion, I  would  most  particularly  recommend^  in  addition  to  shoulder- 
braces,  the  use  of  the  inhaling  tube.  (For  a  description  of  the 
inhaling  tube,  and  its  effects,  see  Lecture  II,  on  the  preven- 
tion and  cure  of  consumption.)  Many  persons  have  remarked  to 
me,  that  it  might  be  very  easy  to  enlarge  the  chest,  and  restore 
the  shoulders  to  their  places,  in  young  persons  ;  —  but,  say  they, 
can  this  be  done  with  persons  later  in  life  ?  I  answer  that  I  have 
most  satisfactorily  accomplished  the  enlargement  of  the  chest  at 
the  age  of  fifty-six  years.  I  am  fully  of  the  opinion,  that  a  contract- 
ed chest  can  be  enlarged  and  restored  to  symmetry,  in  persons  of 
every  age  up  to  sixty-five  years.  In  November,  1843,  1  was  con- 
sulted by  a  very  respectable  man  at  Manchester,  in  New-Hamp- 
shire. He  was  fifty-six  years  of  age,  had  a  bad  cough,  and  con- 
siderable pain  about  his  chest.  His  breast-bone  was  very  much 
depressed,  so  as  to  form  a  very  deep  depression  and  hollow  in  the 
bottom  of  the  chest.  By  the  use  of  shoulder-braces,  &c.,  in  a 
few  months  his  chest  was  restored  to  perfect  symmetry.  The 
breast-bone  was  raised  up  entirely  to  its  place,  and  the  depression 
in  it  entirely  obliterated.  The  pain  in  his  chest  and  his  cough 
were  soon  cured.  In  fine,  Imust  say  that  no  man  under  sixty- 
five  years  need  despair  of  having  a  fine,  healthy,  and  perfect 
chest,  in  a  moderately  short  time,  by  the  use  of  the  means  I  have 
indicated,  especially  wearing  shoulder-braces,  and  using  the  in- 
haling tube  ;  by  which  means  nearly  every  case  of  chest  disease 
may  be  cured,  or  prevented. 

It  always  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  address  intelligent  men  on 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  273 

these  subjects,  and  especially  mechanics,  and  persons  practically 
acquainted  with  mechanical  laws*  That  man  in  his  formation 
is  intended  to  stand  and  move  in  a  perfectly  upright  position ;  the 
head,  neck,  and  other  parts  of  the  spine,  standing  perfectly  per- 
pendicular to  the  hips,  whilst  the  spine  at  the  small  of  the  back, 
in  place  of  bending  outward  and  backward,  as  occurs  in 
crooked  persons,  naturally  bends  inward  and  forward.  That 
this  is  our  natural  position  is  proven  in  the  forms  of  all  our 
children  under  three  years  of  age,  or  who  have  not  yet  had  their 
persons  deformed  by  attending  school,  or  by  manual  labor.  The 
same  fact  is  noticed  in  all  savage  nations  with  whom  we  are 
acquainted  :  the  Indians  of  America,  the  native  Africans,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  South  Sea  islands.  All  travellers  are  every- 
where  struck  with  the  fine  figures  of  these  people.  An  exception 
to  this  is  found  only  in  those  savages,  who,  from  necessity,  or  in- 
dolence, reside  in  caves  or  very  low  tents,  where  they  cannot 
stand  or  sit  erect.  Among  these  are  the  Hottentots  of  South 
Africa,  and  some  others.  These  only  form  solitary  exceptions. 
So  that  man,  in  his  person,  when  standing  or  sitting,  represents 
a  strait,  upright  column.  Allow  me  to  ask  you,  who  are  me- 
chanics, how  much  more  weight  a  stooping  column  can  bear 
than  a  strait  one,  and  how  much  longer  will  a  stooping  column 
last,  supposing  it  made  of  perishable  materials,  than  if  it  stood 
upright.  There  can  be  but  one  answer,  and  that  is  immeasura- 
bly in  favor  of  the  upright  column.  Whilst  the  upright  column 
will  support  almost  any  weight,  a  trifling  pressure  crushes  the 
stooping  one  to  the  earth.  Now,  we  will  suppose  a  man  carries 
his  head,  neck  and  shoulders  perpendicularly,  as  intended  in  his 
formation  ;  he  suffers  no  fatigue  from  this  position,  and  experiences 
no  wear  and  tear  of  his  system,  however  long  continued.  In  fact, 
this  position  is  constantly  consolidating  the  frame  of  the  system, 
harmonizes  with  every  part  of  it,  and  confers  upon  it  the  greatest 
firmness  and  durability.  So  perfectly  does  this  accord  with 
universal  experience,  that  upon  beholding  a  strait  symmetrical 
man,  we  at  once  and  almost  involuntarily  associate  with  him 
the  idea  of  long  life.  On  the  contrary,  take  a  man  who  throws 
his  head  and  neck  forward,  and  observe  to  what  a  mechanical  dis- 
advantage it  is  supported.  It  becomes  at  once  an  absolute  burden, 
12* 


274  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

and,  although  habit  makes  us  quite  unconscious  of  it,  yet  its  bad 
effects  are  shown  by  the  far  greater  fatigue,  and  far  less  power 
of  endurance,  that  such  a  person  suffers  over  one  who  carries 
his  head  and  neck  strait.  It  is  a  source  of  constant  wear  and 
tear  to  the  system. 

Now  extend  the  case  still  farther,  and  in  addition  to  the  head 
and  neck,  bend  forward  the  shoulders  and  spine,  and  the  evils 
are  still  more  increased,  just  in  proportion  to  the  deformity,  so 
that  a  crooked  man,  especially  if  young,  and  even  at  any  period 
of  life,  at  once  gives  us  the  impression  of  disease,  weakness,  and 
debility,  and  especially  of  age  ;  the  young  man  looks  much  oldei 
than  he  is,  and  the  older  man  quite  anticipates  his  years. 

PREMATURE  OLD  AGE. 

Besides  the  diseases  I  have  mentioned,  resulting  from  deformi. 
ty  arid  crookedness  of  person,  there  is  one  effect  that  always  takes 
place  in  all  cases,  and  that  is  premature  old  age.  I  am  fully 
aware  tha*  occasionally  many  very  old  people  are  seen,  who,  at 
the  same  time,  are  very  crooked.  Such  persons  should  know 
that  their  hves  are  always  shortened  by  being  crooked.  Most 
persons  think,  that  to  become  crooked  is  incident  to  old  age. 
Bowed  down  with  years,  is  a  poetical  expression  ;  but  man  was 
never  yet  made  crooked  by  age.  Crookedness  of  person  always 
results  from  habit,  occupation,  debility,  or  disease.  To  demon- 
strate this,  I  can  point  out  numbers  of  very  old  people,  even  to 
one  hundred  years,  who  are  quite  strait  (see  portrait  of  Henry 
Francisco.)  in  their  persons,  and  could  we  find  only  one  old  per- 
son strait,  this  would  prove  that  we  are  not  made  crooked  by  old 
age.  The  disposition  to  stoop  is  a  matter  of  habit,  and  creeps 
upon  us  in  a  most  insidious  manner.  We  often  stoop  from  mere 
indolence.  Disease,  by  inducing  debility,  most  usually  inclines 
us  to  lie  down  or  to  stoop  forward,  when  standing  or  walking. 
I  will  remark,  that  man's  natural  position  being  to  stand  upright, 
all  the  bands,  belts,  ties,  and  fastenings  of  the  different  parts,  and 
all  their  coverings,  and  moving  powers,  are  arranged  for  a  strait 
perpendicular  position.  The  faces  of  all  the  bones  at  the  joints, 
as  they  meet  each  other,  are  arranged  to  this  perpendicular  struc- 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  275 

lure  and  face  upon  each  other  accordingly.  Now  then,  when 
we  bend  forwards,  and  continue  so  permanently  in  proportion  as 
as  we  do  it,  we  put  some  of  the  fleshy  parts  upon  the  stretch  ; 
others  are  relaxed,  some  are  made  shorter  and  others  longer  than 
natural,  and  all  are  thrown  out  of  their  correct  bearing.  Were 
it  not  for  the  great  power  of  self- reparation,  possessed  by  the  sys- 
tem, and  its  ability  to  adopt  and  re-arrange  itself  to  meet  great 
changes  in  it%  form,  though  always  to  its  injury  and  disadvan- 
tage, the  machine  would  soon  cease  to  act  altogether,  and  life 
become  extinct.  I  think  I  have  said  enough  on  this  subject,  and 
will  leave  it  to  you,  and  especially  to  those  of  you  who  are  me- 
chanics, to  fill  up  what  I  have  omitted,  by  your  own  judicious 
reflections. 

POSITION  WHEN  LYING  DOWN. 

I  have  mentioned,  that  in  sitting  or  standing,  the  person  should 
be  kept  perfectly  strait,  and  as  much  so  as  possible  at  all  of  our 
occupations.  I  am  farther  inclined  to  the  opinion,  that  children 
and  all  young  persons  should  be  taught  to  lay  flat  upon  their 
backs,  with  the  head  as  low  as  the  shoulders,  without  any  pillow 
at  all.  This  would  contribute  most  powerfully  to  make  young 
persons  strait.  By  sleeping  upon  pillows,  much  raised,  it  inclines 
young  persons  to  become  crooked.  I  know  that  the  functions  of 
life  and  the  circulation  of  the  blood  are  much  easier  carried  on 
when  we  lay  down  upon  a  level  bed,  with  the  head  as  low  as  the 
shoulders.  This  is  shown  in  persons  who  are  very  low  in  fever, 
or  who  have  lost  a  great  deal  of  blood,  or  been  greatly  reduced 
from  any  cause  :  lay  them  flat  down  on  their  backs,  with  the  head 
fully  as  low  as  the  shoulders,  and  life  will  continue,  when,  at  the 
same  time,  were  you  to  place  them  in  an  upright  position,  they 
would  immediately  die.  Men,  who  from  long  habit  have  been 
accustomed  to  lay  with  the  head  very  much  raised,  will  find 
it  very  irksome  or  impossible  to  lay  with  their  heads  low.  Fleshy 
men,  and  those  with  very  short  necks,  find  it  indispensable  to  lay 
with  .the  head  high,  so  that  the  blood  shall  enter  the  brain  with 
difficulty,  and  leave  it  easily.  By  this  means  the  circulation  of 
the  blood  is  mechanically  obstructed  towards  the  head ;  but  in  all 
young  persons,  and  a  31  those  spare  of  flesh,  there  is  no  objection 


276  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

to  laying  with  the  head  low,  and  many  positive  advantages  will 
result  from  it. 

SELF-REPARATION  OF  THE  BODY. 

In  my  first  lecture,  I  fully  pointed  out  the  uses  of  the  lungs, 
which  are,  in  the  first  place,  to  give  the  moving  power  to  the  hu- 
man machine  ;  and,  in  the  second,  to  purify  the  blood.  It  is  the 
^uty  of  the  heart  to  circulate  the  blood.  We  now  come  to  con- 
sider that  set  of  organs  whose  duty  it  is  to  prepare  and  change 
our  food,  so  as  to  make  it  into  blood,  or,  at  least,  all  the  nutritious 
parts.  These  organs  are  the  teeth,  the  stomach,  the  liver,  and 
bowels.  The  food,  after  being,  if  solid,  thoroughly  masticated, 
or  chewed  well,  is  first  mixed  in  the  mouth  with  the  saliva,  its 
natural  moisture.  Some  parts  about  the  mouth  are  so  prepared, 
that,  upon  receiving  solid  food  into  the  mouth,  streams  of  pecu- 
liar water  are  thrown  upon  the  food,  and  mix  with  it,  whilst 
chewing,  and  go  with  it  to  the  stomach,  when  it  is  swallow- 
ed. It  is  of  vast  importance  to  man,  both  to  his  health  and 
continuance  of  his  life,  that  he  have  good  teeth ;  and,  for  this 
reason,  they  should  be  carefully  preserved.  The  teeth  are  never 
lost,  except  by  accident  or  disease.  A  vast  deal  may  be  done  to 
insure  their  preservation,  and  cure  their  diseases,  by  calling  in 
the  aid  of  the  skilful  surgeon-dentist.  You  can  scarcely  confer  a 
greater  favor  upon  your  young  sons,  than  to  place  their  teeth  un- 
der the  care  of  a  judicious  and  skilful  dentist,  by  which  means 
they  will  be  certain  to  have,  when  grown  up,  their  teeth  healthy, 
regular,  and  perfect.  You  can  scarcely,  do  yourselves  a  greater 
favor,  than  to  preserve  your  teeth,  by  the  aid  of  the  dentist.  De- 
cayed teeth  should  be  either  extracted  or  plugged,  and  the  teeth 
should  always  be  kept  clean.  The  loss  of  the  teeth,  so  that  food 
cannot  be  well  chewed,  or  masticated,  is  a  great  calamity,  and 
always  contributes,  more  or  less,  to  shorten  life.  The  food,  after 
being  masticated,  in  the  first  movement  of  swallowing,  passes  into 
the  gullet,  which  is  a  long  fleshy  tube,  that  lays  behind  the  wind- 
pipe, and  passes  downward,  entirely  through  the  whole  length  of 
the  chest,  into  the  left  side  of  the  stomach.  (See  plate  E.)  In 
swallowing,  food,  either  solid  or  liquid,  passes  down  this  tube,  into 
the  stomach. 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  277 

THE  STOMACH. 

For  a  view  of  the  gullet,  stomach,  bowels,  and  liver,  see 
plates  E,  N,  O,  and  Q.  On  the  plates,  you  will  have  a  much 
better  idea  of  these  organs  than  can  be  given  by  an  oral  descrip- 
tion. I  will  remark,  that  the  stomach  has  a  good  deal  the  form  « 
of  a  hunter's  horn,  its  larger  portion  being  towards  the  left  side, 
at  the  upper  part  of  the  abdomen,  and  separated  from  the  heart 
and  lungs  by  the  midriff,  or  diaphragm,  which  is  a  fleshy  curtain 
that  divides  the  abdomen  from  the  chest.  (See  plate  O.)  The 
inlet  to  the  stomach  is  on  the  top.  at  its  left  side ;  the  outlet  is  at 
its  right  end  ;  much  the  larger  portion  of  the  stomach  hangs  be- 
low its  outlet.  This  arrangement  prevents  the  food  and  liquids 
from  passing  out  of  the  stomach,  by  their  simple  weight  alone. 
The  stomach  will  hold  from  one  pint  to  two  quarts.  Its  walls 
are  very  thin,  generally,  and  are  capable  of  being  very  consider- 
ably stretched.  This  is  one  of  the  causes  of  its  difference  in 
size  Those  who  eat  and  drink  a  great  deal  at  a  time,  are  apt  to 
have  much  larger  stomachs  than  moderate  eaters  and  drinkers. 

O 

The  food  remains  in  a  healthy  stomach  from  half  an  hour  to  four 
hours.  As  soon  as  the  food  is  swallowed,  commences  a  process 
by  which  a  considerable  portion  of  the  food  is  eventually  con- 
verted into  blood.  This,  considered  in  all  its  steps,  is  one  of  the 
most  mysterious  processes  known  to  us.  How  portions  of  a  po- 
tato, for  instance,  can  be  so  modified  and  changed  as  to  become 
flesh,  is  very  difficult  of  explanation.  We  know  it  takes  place, 
but  exactly  how,  it  is  difficult  to  determine. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  lungs  to  give  us  the  power  of  action, 
whilst  it  is  the  duty  of  the  stomach  to  make  such  changes  in  the 
food,  that  this  shall  form  the  substance  and  growth  of  the  body, 
and  serve  to  repair  all  the  waste  of  the  body.  It  is  of  vast  as- 
sistance to  our  stomachs,  that  the  food  is  well  chewed  or  ground 
up  before  it  is  swallowed,  so  that  when  it  comes  into  the  stomach 
it  slrall  be  in  a  stale  of  fine,  minute  division.  When  the  stomach 
is  unhealthy,  food  may  remain  in  it  a  great  length  of  time. 
The  late  Dr.  D wight,  President  of  Yale  College,  vomited  up  a 
piece  of  boiled  carrot  that  had  remained  in  his  stomach  t  \vejve 
weeks.  A  gentleman  in  Virginia  told  me  last  summer,  that  he 


278  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

knew  a  boy  to  vomit  up  some  persimmon  seeds  that  had  remained 
in  his  stomach  forty-six  days.  Thus  in  weak  stomachs  the  food 
may  remain  a  long  time  without  being  much  changed  ;  or  it  may 
ferment  and  form  a  strong  acid,  at  the  same  time  generating  air 
more  or  less  foul,  at  times  producing  an  exceedingly  unpleasant 
breath.  .  These  unnatural  changes  and  decay  of  the  food  in  the 
stomach,  attend  the  disease  called  dyspepsia.  This  is  oc- 
casioned by  various  causes,  but  chiefly  in  grown-up  persons  it 
arises  from  badly  masticating  the  food,  from  debility  of  the  stomach 
itself,  but  above  everything,  and  more  than  all  other  causes  com- 
bined, it  arises  from  eating  more  than  the  waste  of  the  system 
requires.  For  we  must  always  bear  in  mind,  that  after  the  hu- 
man frame  is  fully  formed,  all  the  object  and  purpose  of  food  is 
to  repair  its  waste,  or  the  loss  of  its  subtance  which  is  daily 
taking  place.  Now,  the  system,  when  not  under  the  influence 
of  disease,  experiences  the  greatest  waste  and  loss  of  substance 
by  hard  and  long-continued  labor,  such  as  is  experienced  by  all 
the  out-door  laboring  population,  and  by  many  in-door  labors. 
Hard  and  long-continued  out-door  labor,  unless  too  excessive, 
greatly  invigorates  the  system,  improves  the  appetite,  and 
strengthens  the  stomach,  at  the  same  time  producing  great  waste 
of  the  substance  of  the  body ;  the  stomach,  now  greatly  invigor- 
ated, is  called  upon  to  furnish  the  supplies,  to  repair  all  this 
waste ;  it  is  under  these  circumstances  that  the  stomach  is  able 
to  do  its  best  performances ;  it  seizes  upon  any,  even  the  plainest 
and  coarsest  food,  and  rapidly  converts  it  into  materials  for  the 
healthiest  blood,  so  that  the7  waste  of  the  person  of  the  laboring 
man  is  promptly  repaired.  So  active  is  his  stomach,  that  he  is 
obliged  to  eat  coarse  and  hearty  food,  that  it  may  not  pass  off 
too  rapidly.  Now,  the  idle,  the  effeminate,  and  all  those  that 
pursue  sedentary  occupations,  experience  but  a  small  share 
of  the  waste  of  the  body  that  is  suffered  by  the  laboring  man. 
Hence  it  is,  that  they  are  called  upon  to  eat  vastly  less  food 
and  much  lighter  in  its  quality,  and  easier  of  digestion,  than 
the  laboring  man. 

The  great  secret  of  preventing  dyspep'sia  is  never  to  eat  any 
more  than  the  waste  of  the  body  requires.  How  much  or  how 
little  this  is,  can  only  be  determined  by  the  experience  of  each 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  279 

individual.  There  is  no  laying  down  any  positive  rules  on  this 
subject.  Each  individual  will  learn,  that  if  he  eats,  even  for  a 
short  period,  more  food  than  the  waste  of  his  system  requires,  or 
its  growth  demands,  the  stomach  may  at  first  digest  this  surplus 
food,  but  in  a  short  time,  as  if  possessed  of  an  intuitive  perception 
that  these  extra  supplies  are  not  wanted,  it  will  refuse  to  prepare 
them, — refusing,  of  course,  to  digest  this  surplus  quantity  of  food. 
As  I  may  speak  again,  in  another  place,  upon  the  subject  of 
diet,  I  will  say  no  more  of  dyspepsia  now. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  FOOD,  AFTER  LEAVING  THE 
STOMACH. 

The  food,  after  remaining  in  a  healthy  stomach  from  half  an 
hour  to  four  hours,  passes  out  of  the  right  opening  of  the  sto- 
mach. The  process  of  digestion  having  reduced  the  food  to  a  ho- 
mogeneous consistence,  considerably  like  cream,  in  its  substance, 
after  leaving  the  stomach  and  going  a  short  distance,  it  unites 
with  the  bile.  A  portion  of  stimulants  and  liquids  go  from  the 
stomach  into  the  blood. 

The  bile  is  a  bitter  soap,  the  object  of  which  is  to  produce  still 
farther  changes  in  the  food,  and  facilitate  its  passage  through  the 
bowels.  The  presence  of  bile  is  indispensable  to  perfect  diges- 
tion. We  presume  it  to  be  of  great  consequence  in  the  animal 
economy,  from  the  immense  size  of  the  organ,  or  machine  em- 
ployed to  prepare  it.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  liver  to  prepare  the 
bile.  The  stomach  is  placed  in  the  left  upper  side  of  the  abdo- 
men, and  partly  under  the  short  ribs.  The  liver  occupies  the 
right  side  of  the  top  of  the  abdomen,  and  is  divided  into  several 
lobes  or  divisions,  lying  partly  under  the  short  ribs  ;  a  flap  of  it 
extends  on  the  left  side,  considerably  upon  the  stomach.  The  liver 
weighs  a  number  of  pounds,  say  from  five  to  ten  times  as 
much  as  the  empty  stomach.  It  is  by  far  the  heaviest  organ  of 
the  interior  of  the  body.  (See  plate  Q.)  The  food,  after  uniting 
with  the  bile,  now  rapidly  passes  down  into  the 

SMALL  BOWELS. 

For  a  view  of  these  bowels,  see  plates  C  and  R. — They  are  about 
25     feet  long,  and  after  a  great  many  turnings  and  convolu- 


280  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


tions,  terminate  in  the  large  bowel  at  the  right  groin,  and  are  se- 
parated from  the  large  bowel  by  a  valve.  The  food  passes  ra- 
pidly through  these  small  bowels.  Those  parts  of  it  suitable  for 
blood,  are  drawn  out  from  the  small  bowels,  that  like  worms  have 
their  ten  thousand  mouths,  opening  into  these  small  bo'vels,  and 
sucking  but  the  nourishing  parts  of  the  food,  immediately  carry 
it  into  the  blood-vessels.  The  coarse  portions  of  the  food,  or 
such  parts  as  are  undigested,  or  are  unfit  for  food,  pass  through 
the  whole  length  of  the  small  bowel,  and  are  discharged  into  the 
large  bowel. 

THE  LARGE  BOWEL,  OR  COLON. 

For  a  view  of  this  bowel,  see  plate  C. — The  large  bowel  com- 
mences at  the  right  groin,  within  the  abdomen ;  it  is  about  the 
size  of  the  wrist,  and  sometimes  larger.  From  the  place  of  its 
beginning,  it  at  first  rises  upward,  passing  inside  of  the  right  hip, 
and  above  the  loins,  until  it  reaches  the  under  edge  of  the  liver. 
It  now  makes  a  great  turn  to  the  left,  and  passes  under  the  edge 
of  the  stomach,  to  the  left  side.  It  now  turns,  and  goes  downward 
past  the  loins,  and  inside  the  left  hip-bone,  for  some  distance 
downward,  when  it  turns  to  the  right,  and  crosses  the  left  side 
of  the  abdomen,  to  the  back-bone,  or  to  a  point  opposite  the  centre 
of  the  back-bone,  where  it  is  tied.  At  this  point  it  now  turns 
downward,  and  continues  strait  down,  lying  close  to  the  bone, 
until  it  passes  out  of  the  body.  This  bowel,  in  its  whole  length, 
is  about  five  feet  long,  and,  in  some  persons,  will  hold  nearly  a 
gallon,  or  more.  The  coarse  portions  of  the  food  remain  in  this 
bowel  about  twenty-four  hours  in  a  healthy  person,  when  it  is 
evacuated  from  the  body.  Should  the  food  remain  in  the  bowel 
much  longer  than  twenty-four  hours,  it  produces  that  disease,  or 
condition  of  the  system,  known  by  the  term 

COSTIVENESS. 

The  human  system  is  endowed  with  peculiar  appetites,  and  ap- 
parent instincts,  and  is  remarkably  under  the  control  of  habit ; 
for  example,  one  person  will  dine  at  twelve  o'clock  in  the  day,— 
others  will  dine  at  two,  four,  or  six  o'clock.  Now,  any  person  at 
the  hour  of  his  meals,  whether  it  be  dinner,  breakfast,  or  supper, 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  231 

when  in  health,  will  usually,  more  or  less,  feel  the  calls  of  hun- 
ger, and  have  a  disposition  to  eat.  But  if  not  regular  in  his  hours 
of  eating,  will  either  be  hungry  nearly  all  the  time,  or  will  have 
no  appetite  at  all,  or  be  very  capricious  in  his  appetite.  So  with 
the  stomach  :  food  thrown  into  it  at  regular  intervals,  and  not  too 
frequently,  nor  too  much  of  it,  will  usually  be  well  digested.  The 
stomach,  as  if  by  instinct,  expects  it,  and  is  prepared  to  receive  it, 
and  to  digest  it  at  these  stated  periods.  But  let  a  person  be  irre- 
gular in  the  hours  of  eating,  and  he  will  very  soon,  if  I  may  use 
the  expression,  destroy  the  instincts  of  his  stomach,  and  greatly 
impair  the  powers  of  digestion.  Now,  this  influence  of  habit  upon 
the  instincts  and  calls  of  the  system,  is  in  no  respect  more  remark- 
able than  in  the  periods  of  the  evacuations.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  these  periods,  in  every  child  or  man,  is  distinctly  experienced 
every  day,  and  might  always  take  place,  unless  checked  by  the 
will,  or  by  careless  inattention  to  them.  Hence  I  infer,  that  cos- 
tiveness  is,  in  nearly  every  case,  produced  by  not  attending  to  the 
calls  of  Nature  at  stated  periods. 

BAD  EFFECTS  OF  COSTIVENESS. 

When  the  coarse  portions  of  the  food,  or,  we  might  call  it,  ex- 
crementitious  matter,  is  too  long  retained  in  the  large  bowel, 
very  injurious  consequences  result  from  it.  We  eat  and  drink 
from  four  to  twelve  pounds,  and,  in  some  persons,  much  more, 
every  day  ;  and  all  of  this  must  leave  the  body,  after  having  per- 
formed the  offices  assigned  to  it.  You  can  ask  me,  how  I  know  all 
leaves  the  body.  I  reply,  that  I  know  this  is  the  case,  and,  of 
course,  refer  to  adults ;  from  the  fact,  that  the  greater  portion  of 
mankind  weigh  very  little,  or  no  more,  at  seventy-five. years  of 
age,  than  at  twenty-five,  and,  very  often,  they  weigh  much  less. 
During  the  long  period  of  fifty  years,  thry  may  have  eaten  and 
drank  something  like  an  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds 
weight  of  liquids  and  solids, — so  much  does  it  require  to  replen- 
ish the  daily  waste  of  the  human  system  for  fifty  years. 

Now  then,  there  are  only  four  great  avenues  through  which 
the  system  relieves  itself  of  its  effete  or  redundant  supplies. 
These  are,  through  the  pores  of  the  skin,  through  the  lungs, 
through  the  bowels,  and  through  the  kidneys,  bladder,  &c.  A 


682  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

very  insignificant  discharge  is  also  obtained  from  the  nose  and 
internal  surface  of  the  mouth.  These  are  all  the  avenues  of  re- 
lief to  a  loaded  system ;  and,  on  their  harmonious  and  equal  ac- 
tion, greatly  depends  health,  and,  with  it,  length  of  life.  It  is  very 
true,  that  one  of  these  may  be  very  deficient  in  the  discharge  of 
its  appropriate  office,  and  the  others  will  do  duty  for  it.  But,  in  a 
tolerably  short  period,  if  any  one  of  these  avenues  is  blocked  up, 
the  others  wrill  refuse  to  do  duty  for  it ;  and  then  general  disease 
will  invade  the  whole  system.  This  is  exemplified  in  the  BAD 

EFFECTS  OF  COSTIVENESS. 

When  the  excrementitious  portions  of  food  are  retained  too  long 
in  the  large  bowel,  the  fluid  parts  that  should  pass  by  the  bowels 
are  thrown  upon  the  kidneys,  lungs,  or  skin,  and  contribute  to 
produce  disease  of  these  parts  in  any  person  predisposed  to  them. 
Thus,  suppose  a  person  to  be  inclined  to  disease  of  the  lungs,  or 
to  raise  a  good  deal  from  them,  costiveness  will  always  aggra- 
vate or  increase  this,  and,  very  often,  is  the  principal  or  entire 
cause  of  it.  In  the  commencement  of  disease  of  the  lungs,  cos- 
tiveness is  almost  always  present;  and  the  same  remark  may  ap- 
ply to  the  condition  of  the  kidneys.  I  do  not  recollect  to  have 
ever  witnessed  a  case  of  bleeding  from  the  lungs,  that  was  not 
preceded,  more  or  less,  by  costiveness.  The  symmetrical  or 
equal  circulation  of  the  blood  is  often  impaired  by  costiveness, 
and  its  circulation  is  very  much  retarded  through  the  lower 
bowels.  It  is  often  one  great  cause  of  determination  of  blood  to 
the  head,  and  thus  producing  obstinate  head-aches  and  vertigo, 
swimming  in  the  head,  dropsy  in  the  brain,  and  a  disposition,  in 
some  persons,  to  apoplexy  and  is  one  great  cause  of  it,  and  of 
paralysis,  or  palsy,  either  partial  or  general,  and  also  of  impaired 
vision,  or  weakness  and  even  loss  of  sight.  It  is  rarely,  or 
ever,  that  these  affections  of  the  head  occur,  unless  costiveness  is 
present ;  or,  at  least,  we  nearly  always,  at  this  time,  notice  a 
sluggish  state  of  the  bowels.  The  nervous  system  is  greatly  af- 
fected by  costiveness.  Indeed,  the  almost  constant  effect  of  con- 
tirmed  costiveness  is  to  produce  great  debility  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, making  the  sufferer  peculiarly  nervous.  The  mind  is  more 
or  less  clouded,  and  quite  incapable  of  great  or  long-continued 
effort. 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


DEPRESSION  OF  SPIRITS. 

There  is  no  one  accompaniment  of  costiveness  more  frequently 
observed  than  depression  of  spirits,  especially  in  persons  a  little 
advanced  in  life.  It  seems  to  cloud  the  whole  mind,  and  to  de- 
stroy every  pleasure,  to  take  away  all  elasticity  and  buoyancy 
of  the  feelings,  and  to  produce  a  distressing  sense  of  impending 
wo  to  come,  in  the  form  of  poverty,  calamity,  or  disease. 

Universal  fullness  of  blood  is  often  produced ;  and  this,  at 
times,  leads  to  dropsy,  either  partial  or  general.  Diseases  of  the 
heart  are  always  aggravated,  and  sometimes  produced,  by  cos- 
tiveness. I  have  frequently  observed  an  enlargement  of  the 
right  side  of  the  heart,  in  persons  long  habituated  to  sluggish,  cos- 
tive bowels.  In  nearly  every  case  of  heart-disease,  scarcely 
anything  aggravates  it  more  than  costiveness,  and  few^  remedies 
relieve  it  so  much  as  free  bowels.  Sluggish  bowels  are  a  very 
efficient  cause  of  dyspepsia.  It  is  true,  that  you  will  sometimes 
witness  obstinate  dyspepsia  when  chronic  diarrhoea  is  present. 
But,  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty,  costiveness  seems  the  cause 
of  dyspepsia.  In  fact,  it  is  exceedingly  rare  to  witness  good  di- 
gestion, when  the  bowels  are  costive.  Nothing  contributes,  as  a 
general  thing,  to  relieve  dyspepsia  more  than  to  have  a  free  state 
of  the  bowels.  Liver  complaint  is  often  produced  by  costiveness. 
The  liver  is  apt  to  become  enlarged,  and  engorged  with  blood, 
and  to  pass  off  its  bile  badly.  It  is  true,  that  a  disease  of  the 
liver  will  frequently  produce  costiveness,  or,  rather,  that  a  want 
of  bile  in  the  bowels  will  produce  it. 

JAUNDICE 

Is  often  produced  by  costiveness :  at  any  rate,  jaundice  and  cos- 
tiveness  are  nearly  always  found  existing  together ;  and  relieving 
the  bowels  tends  very  much  to  relieve  the  jaundice. 

PILES. 

Piles  are  often  produced  by  costiveness.  The  accumulation  01 
matter  in  the  lower  bowel  prevents  the  return  of  blood  from  that 
bowel,  and  thus  very  often  causes  piles. 


884  »      LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

A  BAD  BREATH 

Is  almost  always  present  in  persons  of  an  habitually  costive 
habit.  From  the  pores  of  the  skin,  in  case  of  long-continued 
costiveness,  the  most  unpleasant  odor  often  arises,  or  is  thrown 
out,  rendering  the  unhappy  subject  almost  a  nuisance. 

SEA-SICKNESS 

Is  almost  always  aggravated  by  costiveness,  and  almost  pre- 
vented by  having  the  bowels  free.  In  fact,  there  is  not  a  function 
of  the  whole  system  that  may  not  be  greatly  impaired  by  costive- 
ness.  Let  me  for  a  moment  refer  you  to  some  other  machines. 
Take,  for  example,  a  locomotive  steam-engine,  and  suppose  the 
fireman  did  not  clear  the  ashes  from  his  fireplace,  how  long, 
think  you,  could  he  thus  run  his  engine  ?  Every  part  would  soon 
become  clogged  ;  little  fire  could  be  made  ;  no  steam  could  be 
generated,  and  thus  no  power  would  be  evolved,  and  his  engine 
would  become,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  useless.  Such,  also, 
is  the  comparative  effect  of  habitual  costiveness  upon  the  human 
machine  ;  every  part  is  clogged  by  it,  and  every  function  em- 
barrassed. It  aggravates  most  diseases,  and  inclines  to  produce 
many.  The  bowels  must  be  kept  tolerably  free  to  insure  good 
health  and  long  life.  I  have  referred  to  the  fact,  that  costiveness  is 
usually  produced  by  repulsing  the  daily  instincts  of  Nature.  After 
we  have  broken  up  regular  habits  in  this  respect,  the  calls  of 
Nature  come  to  us  at  longer  intervals,  and  with  feebler  influence, 
so  that  one  week,  two  weeks,  and  even  one  month,  will  pass  with- 
out an  evacuation,  until  the  bowels  seem  to  have  lost  all  power  of 
action.  I  have  known  one  case  where  no  evacuation  was  had 
for  four  months  and  a  half,  and  another  case  of  nine  months. 
Nothing  in  either  of  these  cases  could  procure  an  evacuation,  so 
nearly  dead  had  the  bowels  become.  The  last  person  most  un- 
expectedly recovered.  I  have  not  heard  the  result  of  the  former. 
I  once  knew  a  young  man,  whilst  on  shipboard  and  very  sea-sick, 
who  suffered  himself  to  remain  three  weeks  without  an  evacuation. 
He  came  very  near  losing  his  life  by  it.  Great  accumulations 
will  sometimes  take  place  in  the  bowels,  and  produce  sudden 
death.  Mr.  Legare,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  Secretary  of  State,  under 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


President  Tyler,  died  suddenly  from  this  cause,  at  Boston,  in 
June,  1843.  I  witnessed  another  death  from  the  same  cause,  in 
Boston,  and  another  in  London. 

MANNER  OF  CURING  COSTIVENESS. 

•As  costiveness  exerts  such  a  pernicious  influence  upon  the 
system,  and  contributes  so  much  to  shorten  life,  it  is  most  desira- 
ble to  know  how  to  prevent  it.  The  best  and  most  desirable  mode 
of  curing  it,  is  by  restoring  the  habit.  Let  the  costive  person, 
exactly  at  the  same  time  every  day,  solicit  an  evacuation,  and 
that  most  perseveringly  for  at  least  one  hour,  should  he  not  suc- 
ceed sooner,  at  the  same  time  leaving  off  all  medicine.  So  much 
is  the  system  influenced  by  habit,  aided  by  the  will,  that  in  nearly 
all  cases  obstinate  perseverance  in  this  course,  and  never  omitting 
it  afterwards,  will  entirely  cure  their  sluggish  state,  and  the 
bowels  become  as  free  as  is  desirable,  and  the  calls  of  Nature  be 
come  as  regular  and  urgent  as  if  they  had  never  been  inter 
rupted.  There  are  some  persons,  however,  who  seem,  or  pre- 
tend to  believe,  that  they  still  require  further  assistance.  These 
will  find  themselves  greatly  assisted  by  eating  rather  coarse  food, 
such  as  coarse  bread,  rye  and  Indian  bread,  and  bread  made  of 
wheat-meal,  or,  we  might  call  it,  unbolted  flour,  sometimes  called 
bran  bread,  and  at  other  times  Graham  bread.  Some  persons 
derive  great  benefit  from  eating  fruit.  Almost  all  the  summer 
fruits  are  found  useful, — apples,  &c., — throughout  the  year. 
Others  derive  great  benefit  from  the  free  use  of  vegetables,  &c. 
All  will  be  benefitted  by  avoiding  the  use  of  very  tough  meat, 
and  very  hard  salted  meat.  I  rarely  recommend  any  other  me- 
dicine to  correct  costiveness,  than  the  use  of  a  very  small  quan- 
tity of  rhubarb.  That  which  should  be  selected,  if  practicable, 
is  the  best  Turkey  rhubarb,  either  in  the  form  of  the  root, 
or  powder ;  the  root  is  apt  to  be  the  purest.  A  few  grains 
of  this  taken  daily  serves  to  improve  digestion,  strengthen  the 
bowels,  and  remove  costiveness.  Rhubarb  has  the  rare  property 
over  all  other  medicines  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  in  a  vast 
many  cases,  of  never  losing  its  effect.  A  great  many  medicines 
taken  to  open  the  bowels,  soon  lose  their  effect,  and  require  the 
dose  to  be  very  much  increased ;  until,  finally,  they  will  not  act 


286  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

in  any  dose,  and  leave  the  bowels  much  worse  than  when  the  pa- 
tient commenced  taking  them.  But  this  is  not  the  case  with  rhu- 
barb, as  a  general  thing.  I  knew  one  gentleman  in  Philadelphia, 
who  took  a  portion  of  Turkey  rhubarb  every  night  for  thirty 
years.  This  gentleman,  on  account  of  obstinate  costiveness,  be- 
gan with  taking  sixty  grains  every  night,  and  when  he  related 
to  me  his  case,  he  found  it  necessary  to  use  only  four  grains  every 
night.  The  late  Dr.  Physic,  of  Philadelphia,  told  me  he  had 
many  patients  in  that  city  who  had  used  rhubarb  to  great  advan- 
tage, very  much  of  the  time,  for  forty  years  or  more. 

In  concluding  this  part  of  our  subject,  allow  me  to  say  to  you, 
that  to  have  the  bowels  in  perfect  order,  and  acting  freely  and 
kindly  every  day,  is  most  desirable,  and  may  be  said  to  be  indis- 
pensable to  health  and  long  life,  and  with  this  the  happiness,  the 
delights,  and  the  pleasures  of  existence.  A  free,  healthy  state  of 
the  bowels  is  truly  a  pearl  of  great  price,  and  a  condition  of  in- 
estimable value  to  the  possessor.  It  is  true,  that  some  persons  of 
costive  habits  live  to  old  age,  whilst  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands are  destroyed  by  it.  The  fact  only  proves  under  what  dis- 
advantages the  system  will  labor  on,  and  continue  its  functions. 
Let  me  repeat  that,  HABIT,  HABIT,  is  the  great  cure-all.  Assist 
this,  if  necessary,  by  regulating  the  diet,  and,  as  a  last  resort,  use 
a  little  rhubarb, — but  assist  all  by  habit. 

Allow  me  to  say  one  word  to  those  who  are  fathers,  husbands, 
and  heads  of  families  :  that  in  the  arrangement  of  water-clos- 
ets or  necessary  out-buildings,  a  good  deal  of  art  or  discretion 
should  be  used,  so  that  the  delicate  and  modest  members  of  your 
families  may  not,  from  fear  of  exposure,  inconvenience,  &c.,  be 
deterred  or  prevented  from  obeying  the  calls  of  Nature.  Some- 
times these  buildings  are  so  exposed  to  the  cold  or  cutting  winds, 
while  passing  to  them,  or  even  exposure  to  wet  or  damp  whilst  in 
the  building,  that  some  of  your  beloved  and  delicate  ones  are  de- 
terred from  visiting  them  when  they  should.  Besides,  one  or  more 
rooms,  as  the  number  of  inmates  may  demand,  these  buildings 
should  be  kept  clean,  perfectly  accessible,  and  free  from  expo- 
sure. In  no  one  particular  is  the  intelligence,  the  civilization, 
and  refinement  of  a  people,  or  an  individual  family,  more  strik- 
ingly marked  than  in  the  preparation  of  these  necessary  build- 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  287 


ings.  No  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  equal  the  English  na- 
tion, in  the  attention,  the  expense,  and  the  skill  in  the  arrangement 
of  these  conveniences.  If  I  dared,  or  the  subject  would  admit 
of  it,  I  could  enter  into  a  great  many  details  connected  with  this 
subject,  that  I  have  witnessed  in  the  cities  of  Italy,  and  in  most 
parts  of  France,  and  in  some  portions  of  this  country,  that  would 
contrast  most  unfavorably  with  what  I  have  said  of  the  English ; 
but  I  forbear,  with  the  remark  that  I  have  no  doubt^and  indeed 
I  have  the  best  reasons  for  knowing,  that  many  a  father  has  wit- 
nessed the  ruined  health  of  the  members  of  his  family,  caused 
wholly  by  inattention  to  this  one  subject.  My  subject  would  not 
be  complete,  were  I  to  omit  speaking  one  word  to  you  upon  the 
evacuation  of  water.  I  mentioned  to  you  that  the  system  un- 
burdened itself  through  the  bowels,  kidneys,  lungs,  and  skin. 
An  immense  amount  is  carried  off  by  the  kidneys. 

THE  OFFICES  OF  THE  KIDNEYS,  BLADDER,  &c. 

Those  solid  portions  of  meat  we  eat  and  drink,  not  entering  into 
the  blood,  are  required  to  pass  off  by  the  bowels.  But  it  is  the  of- 
fice of  the  kidneys  to  separate  a  vast  amount  of  fluids  from  the 
blood,  and  with  these  fluids,  and  dissolved  in  them,  they  throw 
off  a  great  quantity  of  earths,  acids,  and  salts,  which,  if  not  taken 
from  the  blood,  would  soon  destroy  litb. 

THE  BLADDER 

Is  a  natural  reservoir  for  holding  the  water  until  periods  conve- 
nient for  its  evacuation.  The  water  is  brought  from  each  kidney 
by  a  long  pipe,  that  extends  from  the  chamber  of  each  kidney  to 
the  bladder.  The  kiclneys  are  situated  in  the  small  of  the  back, 
one  on  each  side  of  the  -back-bone  :  the  bladder  is  placed  low 
down  in  the  basket  of  the  hips,  and  immediately  behind  the  front 
cross-bone.  (For  a  view  of  the  kidneys,  and  the  pipes  that  con- 
vey the  water  to  the  bladder,  and  the  bladder  itself,  see  plate  S.) 
The  bladder  is  capable  of  being  enormously  distended,  by  the 
habit  of  retaining  the  water  too  long. 

There  are  many  persons  who,  from  carelessness,  and  sometimes 
from  modesty,  do  not  evacuate  the  bladder  when  called  to  do  so. 
If  this  habit  is  long  continued,  extremely  pernicious  effects  are 

;' 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


apt  to  result.  One  of  these  is  to~produce  more  or  less  a  disten- 
sion of  the  bladder,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  greatly  lessen  the 
secretion  of  water.  'The  kidneys,  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 
being  informed  that  the  outlet  is  obstructed,  cease  to  secrete  as 
much  water  as  they  otherwise  would  ;  and  hence  much  less 
urine  is  secreted  from  the  blood.  The  skin,  the  lungs,  and  the 
bowels,  will  then  be  called  upon  to  do  duty  for  the  kidneys,  and 
to  take  out  tbe  earths,  salts,  and  water  from  the  blood.  It  is,  how- 
ever, chiefly  thrown  off  through  the  skin.  Any  person  who  has 
witnessed  a  stoppage  of  water  for  any  length  of  time,  is  immedi- 
ately struck  with  the  smell  of  urine  that,  comes  from  every  part  of 
the  skin  of  a  person  troubled  with  a  stoppage  of  water.  The  next 
evil,  I  will  mention,  resulting  from  too  long  containing  the  water, 
is  that  the  water  accumulated  in  the  bladder,  and  remaining  there 
for  some  time,  allows  the  earths,  salts  and  acids,  that  it  holds  in 
solution,  to  fail  down  and  settle  at  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the 
bladder,  and  thus  lay  the  foundation  for  gravel  in  the  kidneys 
and  bladder,  and  stone  in  the  bladder.  Much,  very  much,  of  all 
this  mischief  is  prevented  by  never  retaining  the  urine  when  we 
are  called  upon  to  discharge  it.  Any  considerable  obstruction 
in  the  action  of  the  kidneys  and  bladder,  especially  if  long  con- 
tinued, in  a  great  many  cases  leads  to  dropsy.  At  all  events,  we 
rarely  ever  notice  dropsy,  without  at  the  same  time  observing 
that  the  kidneys  are  slow  in  their  action,  and  pass  off  much  less 
than  their  usual  quantity  of  water.  Although  gravel  is 
usually  readily  cured,  yet  it  is  better  to  prevent  this  and  all 
other  diseases  of  the  kidneys  and  bladder,  by  never  omitting  to 
evacuate  the  water  when  called  upon  to  do  so.  It  was  long  ago 
observed  in  England,  that  the  highest  and  lowest  classes  of  socie- 
ty were  always  far  more  exempt  from  stone  in  the  bladder,  than 
the  intermediate  classes,  and  they  could  only  account  for  it  from 
the  fact,  that  the  highest  and  lowest  classes  of  society  there  are 
perfectly  easy  in  their  manners,  and  not  deterred  by  modesty,  or 
want  of  convenience,  from  evacuating  the  bladder  whenever 
they  chose.  Somewhat  the  reverse  of  this  is  found  in  the 
middling  classes,  and  hence  their  greater  liability  to  stone  in  the 
bladder. 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  889 

THE  SKIN  AND  ITS  OFFICES. 

In  order  to  insure  perfect  health,  great  attention  should  be  paid  to 
the  state  of  the  skin.  The  skin  is  the  external  covering  of  the  body, 
and  is  to  man  a  natural  clothing.  There  are  yet  some  nations  of 
the  earth  known  to  exist  without  wearing  any  artificial  clothing 
whatever.  I  mention  this  as  merely  showing  the  amount  of  pro- 
tection derived  from  tl?^  skin.  That  it  is  a  covering  or  protection, 
we  have  only  to  notice  those  parts  of  our  person  that  are  exposed 
to  the  air,  such  as  t'ie  hands  and  face,  which  are  usually  uncover- 
ed :  these  meet  the  air  with  perfect  impunity.  In  addition  to  being 
a  clothing,  the  sku  is  pierced  with  an  innumerable  number  of  very 
small  holes,  through  which  constantly  pass  a  vast  quantity  of 
fluids  from  the  body,  either  in  apparent  or  invisible  perspiration. 
Sometimes  we  will  see  great  drops  of  perspiration  standing  on 
every  part  of  the  body  ;  at  other  times  it  is  not  visible  to  the  eye, 
yet  it  is  always  passing  ofF  in  great  quantities  when  in  health. 
Were  the  clothing  to  be  removed  entirely  from  a  man,  and  his 
body  placed  under  a  glass  case,  and  the  air  pumped  off,  he  would 
seem  to  be  covered  entirely  with  a  cloud  of  vapor.  This  is  the 
insensible  perspiration.  The  same  thing  may  be  noticed  on  first 
entering  a  bath :  in  a  moment  or  two  after  the  person  is  under 
the  water,  upon  looking  over  the  surface  of  the  body  covered  by 
the  water,  we  will  notice  vast  numbers  of  little  air-bubbles,  seem- 
ing to  stick  to  the  skin.  The  minute  openings  through  the  skin 
are  called  its  pores,  and  through  these  pores  vast  quantities  of 
fluids,  and  even  solids,  pass  off.  It  is  perfectly  indispensable  to 
health,  that  the  skin  be  kept  in  a  healthy,  vigorous  condition,  and 
that  its  pores  be  always  entirely  unobstructed.  It  is  not  desirable 
that  the  skin  have  too  much  clothing  placed  upon  it ;  indeed,  we 
should  wear  as  little  clothing  as  possible,  consistent  with  comfort. 
This  will  depend  upon  each  person's  experience  and  early  habits. 
It  is  well  known  to  every  observer,  that  those  children  who  go 
barefooted  through  all  the  warm  months  of  the  year,  and  who 
wear  little  more  clothing  than  a  linen  or  cotton  shirt  and  trowsers 
would  be  upon  boys,  and  continue  this  light  clothing  and  bare 
feet  for  as  many  months  as  possible  in  each  year,  and  during  aU 
13 


290  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

the  years  of  childhood,  have  much  better  constitutions,  and 
enjoy  far  better  health  in  after-life,  than  those  who  are  more 
delicately  brought  up.  The  same  thing  applies  to  the  continued 
preservation  of  health  in  adults.  The  more  the  surface  of  the 
body  is  exposed,  and  the  lighter  the  clothing,  if  they  can  bear 
it,  the  more  health  they  will  have.  An  old  man  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, who  had  attained  to  nearly  his  ninetieth  year,  remarked  to 
a  friend,  that  of  late  he  had  become  very  effeminate.  "  Now,"  said 
lie,  "  I  am  obliged  to  wear  shoes  more  than  two  months  of  the  year, 
when  for  the  most  part  of  my  life  I  have  been  able  to  go  barefoot  the 
whole  year."  I  knew  an  old  man  at  Bristol,  Conn.,  who  was 
eighty  years  old,  that  never  wore  stockings  upon  his  feet,  and 
only  India  rubber  shoes  through  the  season  of  snow.  All  his 
other  clothing  was  correspondingly  light.  He  enjoyed  perfect 
health,  and  spent  a  large  part  of  every  twenty-four  hours  in  active 
out-door  employment.  It  is  well  known  what  excellent  health 
the  American  Indians  enjoy,  and  how  impatient  they  are  of 
clothing.  For  nearly  or  quite  eight  months  of  the  year,  in  our 
cold  climate,  they  wear  very  little  clothing.  For  this  reason,  I 
think,  cotton  next  to  the  skin  is  better  than  woollen.  I  will,  how- 
ever, leave  this  subject  to  every  man's  experience,  fully  believing 
that  the  less  clothing  we  wear,  consistent  with  comfort,  is  most 
conducive  to  health.  I  would  particularly  urge  every  man  not 
to  increase  his  clothing,  unless  forced  to  do  so  by  actual  suffer- 
ing. 

BATHING. 

The  skin  should  be  kept  clean,  and  the  best  mode  of  invigo- 
rating it,  besides  exposing  it  to  the  air,  is  to  bathe  the  surface  of 
the  body  frequently  with  cold  water, — this  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year.  To  men  who  are  delicate,  and  not  accustomed  to  bathing, 
and  exposure  of  the  person  to  the  air,  I  would  particularly  recom- 
mend to  them,  when  they  commence  bathing,  if  in  cold  weather,  to 
do  so  in  a  well-heated  room.  This  ablution  of  the  body  with  cold 
water,  I  think  should  be  done  every  day  of  the  year.  Many  per. 
sons  shudder  at  the  idea  of  using  cold  water  upon  their  persons  in 
cold  weather.  I  think  it  is  then  most  useful.  In  the  very  cold 
winter  of  1835-6,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Abercrombie,  D.D.,  one  of  the 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  291 

oldest  Episcopal  clergy  in  Philadelphia,  called  at  my  house  on  one 
of  the  coldest  days.  The  old  man  was  about  seventy-five  years 
of  age,  and  of  a  very  light,  thin  figure.  In  the  course  of  conver- 
sation he  chanced  to  remark,  that  he  did  not  feel  as  well  as  usual 
that  day,  because  he  had  forgotten  to  take  his  bath  in  the  morn- 
ing. "  Why,"  said  I,  "Doctor,  you  do  not take-a cold  bath  such 
weather  as  this  ?"  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
bathing  in  cold  water  every  day,  in  all  seasons  of  the  year,  for 
more  than  fifty  years."  Few  men  ever  enjoyed  more  uninter- 
rupte,dly  good  health  during  a  long  life  than  Dr.  Abercombie. 

In  January,  1845,  I  was  called  upon  at  Norwich,  in  Connec- 
ticut, by  an  old  gentleman  seventy-two  years  of  age.  He  told 
me  that  he  had  not  heard  my  lectures,  but  that  he  had  heard  of 
them,  and  my  remarks  upon  bathing  in  cold  water.  He  said  to 
me,  "  My  neighbors  call  me  crazy,  because  I  go  out  in  all  wea- 
thers, and  never  wear  an  over-coat  ;  and  here,"  said  he,  opening 
a  thin  cotton  shirt  upon  his  bosom,  "  is  all  the  covering  I  wear 
for  my  breast,  save  my  coat  and  waistcoat  ;  and  farther,"  said 
he,  "  I  bathe  a  great  deal  in  cold  water.  I  prefer  bathing  in  the 
river  here."  The  water  in  the  river  at  Norwich  is  salt,  or  brack- 
ish. He  said,  "  If  I  omit  bathing  for  a  week,  I  become  indis- 
posed j  and  it  is  very  frequently  the  case,  in  winter,  that  the 
bay  is  frozen  a  long  way  out.  In  such  cases,"  continued  he, 
"  I  very  often,  without  any  regard  to  the  weather,  walk  out  on 
the  ice  as  far  as  I  can  go,  and  there  take  off  my  clothes,  deposit 
them  upon  the  ice,  and  crawl  on  my  hands  and  knees  over  the 
edge  of  the  ice  into  the  water,  and  stay  there  as  long  as  I  please, 
and  generally  till  I  feel  better."  The  old  gentleman  enjoyed 
excellent  health.  Now,  this  is  an  extreme  case,  and  one  that 
I  do  not  hold  up  for  imitation,  but  only  to  exhibit  what  may  be 
done  in  the  most  highly  civilized  communities,  and  with  appa- 
rent advantage.  Dr.  Abercrombie  told  me,  that  he  had  hundreds 
of  times  found  the  water  in  his  bathing-tub  frozen  over,  and 
would  place  himself  in  the  water,  covered  with  floating  ice.  Now 
I  would  not  recommend  this  course  as  judicious  to  any  one.  I 
rather  question  its  propriety,  or  very  much  doubt  whether  it 
could  be  universally  employed  without  injuring  some  persons. 
I  think  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  benefits  of  cold-bathing  can  be  ob- 


292  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

tained,  and  with  vastly  less  trouble,  and  much  less  inconveni 
ence,  by  the  use  of  the 

SPONGE-BATH. 

I  recommend  to  my  patients,  and  others,  the  following  method 
of  managing  the  surface  of  the  body,  every  day,  morning  or 
evening,  or  at  any  hour  that  is  most  convenient, — I  rather  prefer 
the  time  of  rising  from  bed  in  the  morning.  The  room  should  be 
warm,  unless  you  are  robust,  and  accustomed  to  bathing  and  ex- 
posure of  the  person.  Throw  off  all  your  clothing,  and  with  a 
brush,  or  hair-gloves,  &c.,  or  one  or  two  coarse  crash  towels,  rub 
the  whole  person  over  in'  the  most  thorough  manner,  exciting  a 
fine  life  and  glow  upon  every  part  of  the  covering  of  the  body 
and  limbs.  After  this  is  done,  take  a  sponge  or  towel,  and  dip  it 
in  cold  water,  and,  with  one  of  these,  rapidly  wet  over  the  whole 
surface  of  the  body  and  limbs,  dwelling  much  upon  the  neck, 
chest,  and  all  the  spine,  and  the  larger  joints.  Now  take  one  or 
two  towels,  and  wipe  every  part  of  the  person  dry.  Now  rub 
the  skin  all  over,  so  as  to  excite  a  fine  glow  upon  it,  and  then  re- 
sume your  clothing,  observing  that  the  shirt  worn  through  the  night 
should  not  be  worn  through  the  day,  if  convenient  to  you.  The 
whole  time  required  for  this  bath  need  not  be  more  than  from 
three  to  five  minutes.  To  be  sure,  you  may  occupy  as  much 
timp.  as  you  please  ;  but  an  active  person  can  accomplish  it  in  the 
time  I  have  mentioned. 

Some  persons  are  so  delicate  or  sensitive,  that  they  cannot  bear 
the  shock  of  cold  water.  These  persons  will  usually  find  them- 
selves greatly  benefitted  by  using  a  tepid  bath.  I  also  recom- 
mend to  my  patients,  especially  those  of  a  scrofulous  habit,  or 
those  having  a  low  condition  of  the  system,  to  stimulate  the 
water,  more  or  less,  as  they  choose,  by  adding  to  it  sea-salt,  or 
rurn,  brandy,  gin,  or  any  spirituous  liquors,  or  cologne  water,  &a 

SEA-WATER 

Is  a  most  invaluable  article  in  bathing,  and  should  be  used, 
whenever  convenient.  About  once  a  week,  great  benefit  may 
be  derived,  arid  the  beauty,  softness,  and  purity  of  the  skin  be 
greatly  promoted,  by  adding  to  pure  soft  water  some  sal-seratus, 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  293 

or  super-carbonate  of  soda.  Either  of  these  will  confer  an  al- 
kaline property  to  the  water,  and  thus  purify  the  skin  in  a  most 
effectual  manner. 

EFFECTS  OF  WATER  UPON  INFLAMED  OR 
DEBILITATED  PARTS. 

Allow  me  to  trespass  upon  your  time  a  few  moments,  that  I 
may  name  some  of  the  benefits  of  water  applied  to  inflamed, 
swelled,  or  debilitated  parts.  I  now  very  seldom  recommend  the 
use  of  blisters  to  inflamed  or  painful  parts;  but,  in  place  of 
blisters,  I  recommend  the  application  of  cloths  dipped  in  cold 
water,  or  cold  salt  and  water,  and  sometimes  I  use  warm  water, 
or  very  hot  water.  In  most  cases  of  pain  in  the  side,  breast,  or 
throat,  or  in  a  joint,  I  find  the  application  of  a  wet  cloth,  and 
worn  some  time,  even  for  weeks,  in  old  cases,  will  produce  a  far 
more  effectual,  certain,  and  permanent  cure  than  blisters,  leeches, 
or  any  species  of  sores. 

In  cases  of 

WEAK  EYES, 

Or  slightly  impaired  vision,  or  inflamed  eyes,  or  eye-lids,  when 
painful,  &c.,  particularly  in  students,  or  persons  of  scholastic 
habits,  I  scarcely  know  a  more  effectual  remedy  to  cure  or 
prevent  these  affections  of  the  eye,  than  dipping  the  forehead, 
eyes,  and  nose  a  great  many  times  a  day  in  cold  water,  and 
holding  them  there  as  long  as  possible.  This  course  will  serve 
greatly  to  strengthen  the  eyes.  In  cases  of  rush  of  blood  to 
the  head,  great  heat  about  the  head,  or  head-ache,  there  is  no 
remedy  that  will  compare  with  the  use  of  cold  water,  and 
the  water  made  as  cold  as  possible,  by  the  addition  of  ice. 
This  will  often  relieve  the  head,  when  every  other  remedy 
fails.  The  head  should  be  dipped  in  the  ice-water,  and  held 
there  as  long  as  possible,  a  great  many  times  a  day,  ac- 
cording to  the  urgency  of  the  case.  Another  mode  of  appli- 
cation is  to  sponge  the  forehead  and  temples  freouently  with 
cold  water,  keeping  them  wet,  &c.  Sometimes,  advantage  is 
derived  from  using  warm  water,  in  place  of  cold  ;  at  others, 
a  bladder  of  ice. 


294  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

SORE  THROAT. 

The  neck  is  a  very  sensitive  part,  and  the  application  of  blis- 
ters is  apt  to  produce  a  great  deal  of  pain  and  nervousness  of  the 
system.  In  many  cases,  the  suffering  becomes  quite  insupport- 
able, a  high  fever  being  excited,  &c.  In  every  case  of  sore 
throat  that  I  have  ever  met  with,  whether  a  putrid  sore  throat  or 
inflamed  tonsils,  or  where  the  windpipe  itself  is  affected,  I  have 
usually  found  the  happiest  effects  in  the  use  of  water,  by  bathing, 
and  also  by  wrapping  a  towel,  wet  in  cold  water,  around  the  throat 
at  bed-time,  and  continuing  it  on  all  night.  It  is  very  rare  to 
meet  with  a  sore  throat  that  will  not  yield  to  this  remedy  in  a 
short  time.  Where  the  windpipe  is  affected,  a  wet  cloth  should 
be  worn  upon  it  all  the  time,  day  and  night.  Last  summer,  at 
Red  Sulphur  Springs,  in  Virginia,  I  prescribed  for  a  gentleman 
for  disease  of  his  lungs,  and  also  of  his  windpipe.  His  voice 
was  nearly  lost.  Besides  medicines,  inhaling  tube,  &c.,  I  recom- 
mended him  to  dip  a  cloth  in  cold  water,  and  apply  it  over  his  in- 
flamed windpipe,  and  wear  it  there  all  the  time.  In  about  two 
months,  I  met  him  at  Richmond,  Va.;  I  found  him  nearly  well. 
He  told  me  he  had  derived  immense  benefit  from  the  wet  cloth ;  it 
had  almost  entirely  restored  his  voice,  which  was  before  nearly 
lost. 

WEAK  AND  PAINFUL  SPINE. 

The  spinal  marrow  which  runs  down  the  whole  length  of  the 
back-bone,  is  in  some  respects  very  much  of  the  nature  of  the 
brain.  (See  plate  U.)  Many  persons  are  subject  to  sick  head- 
ache, and  a  good  deal  of  habitual  pain  in  the  head,  more  or  less 
in  all  parts  of  it,  accompanied  with  heat,  &c.  These  head- 
aches are  mostly  produced  by  the  state  of  the  stomach,  by  in- 
digestion, by  errors  in  diet,  and  by  the  condition  of  the  liver, 
c-'stiveness,  &c.  Now,  every  experienced  and  well-informed 
physician  knows  that  general  bleeding,  or  blisters  applied  to  the 
head,  or  tartar  emetic  sores,  or  anything  of  that  kind,  made  upon 
the  head,  are  of  little  or  no  use,  and  sometimes  increase  the  head- 
ache ten-fold,  because  thrse  head-aches  maybe  said  to  be  purely 
nervous  and  often  result  from  mere  debility.  The  head  is  per- 


LECTURE  TO  GRNTLEMEtf  ONLY  2d5 


Plate  U. 


Posterior  view  of  tho  Brain,  Spinal  Marrow,  and  the  Nerves 
that  go  to  the  arms  and  lower  limbs. 

fectly  innocent,  because  of  the  diseases  being  in  some  other  part ; 
now  the  same  state  of  things  very  often  exists  in  the  spine.  In 
fact,  true  spine  disease  is  exceedingly  rare,  but  heat,  debility  in 
some  degree,  and  nervous  and  rheumatic  pains  in  the  spine,  are 
exceedingly  common. 

The  cause  of  this  not  being  in  the  spine  itself,  but  in  other  dis- 
tant parts,  another  analogy  is  seen.  We  all  know  that  the 
head  should  be  kept  cool,  it  is  the  same  fact  in  regard  to  the 
spine  ;  hence,  persons  should  never  sit  or  stand  much  with  their 
backs  to  the  fire.  The  application  of  harsh  remedies,  much  blis- 
tering, and,  above  all,  tartar  emetic  sores,  applied  over  the  spine, 
when  pains  exist  in  it,  caused  by  debility,  nervousness,  rheuma- 
ttsm,  gravel,  &c.,  will  often  produce  the  most  distressing  pros- 
tration, deprivation  of  the  power  of  walking,  and  in  many  cases 
cause  persons  to  be  bed-ridden,  even  for  years.  Some  physicians 


296  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

are  constantly  on  the  stretch  for  spine  diseases.  Upon  the  least 
pain  in  the  back,  it  is  at  once  subjected  to  the  ordeal  of  a  severe 
examination ;  strong  pressure  is  made  upon  every  part  of  the 
spine,  and  even  pounding  the  spine,  to  see  if  a  tender  spot  can  be 
detected  anywhere.  Now,  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  tender 
places  can  be  found  upon  the  spine,  in  this  way,  in  more  than 
half  the  people  we  meet,  at  the  same  time  no  spine  disease  ex- 
isting whatever.  But  some  physicians,  upon  finding  a  slightly 
tender  place  upon  any  part  of  the  spine,  immediately  announce 
spine  disease,  and  recommend  the  most  excruciating  tortures 
known  to  us,  such  as  excessive  blistering,  cupping,  and  above 
all,  horrid  tartar  emetic  sores.  The  truly  robust  and  healthy 
can  bear  this  without  great  injury ;  but  the  nervous,  the  feeble, 
and  the  delicate  persons  are  very  apt  to  be  overcome  by  it.  In 
June,  1845,  I  was  consulted  at  Nantucket,  Massachusetts,  by  a 
lady  who  suffered  considerably  from  female  complaints  and 
weakness  of  her  spine.  She  told  me  that,  seven  years  before,  at 
the  recommendation  of  her  physician,  she  took  a  very  powerful 
tartar  emetic  for  a  slight  pain  in  her  stomach.  She  vomited 
for  twenty-four  hours,  which  greatly  wrenched  her  back,  so 
that  she  could  scarcely  straiten  herself  for  nearly  two  days. 
Some  time  during  the  second  day,  her  physician  called  to  see 
another  sick  person  in  the  house,  and  also  spoke  to  her.  She 
told  him  that  the  emetic  vomited  her  very  much,  and  had  given 
her  a  lame  back.  The  physician  said  at  once  he  thought  she 
must  have  the  spine  disease.  On  examining  her  spine  where  it 
had  been  nearly  wrenched  off,  he  found  some  tenderness,  and 
told  her  she  had  a  spine  disease,  and  urged  immediate  measures 
for  its  cure.  To  effect  this  he  gave  her  a  box  of  strong  tartar 
emetic  ointment,  directing  her  to  spread  a  plaster  about  the 
width  of  three  fingers,  to  extend  from  the  root  of  the  neck  to  the 
lower  extremity  of  the  spine,  to  be  snugly  applied,  saying  to  her, 
that  the  longer  she  kept  it  on  the  better,  even  all  night  if  she 
could  bear  it. 

Her  sister  told  me,  that  by  midnight  the  very  bedroom  seemed 
heated  by  the  heat  from  the  sufferer's  back.  She,  however,  wore 
the  plaster  until  the  Doctor  came  the  next  morning,  and  removed  it. 
Her  sister^told  me,  that  on  taking  off  the  plaster,  the  whole  length 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  297 

of  her  back  presented  the  appearance  of  a  cullender,  the  skin 
being  perforated  by  a  great  many  holes,  eaten  by  the  emetic  tar- 
tar. The  lady  did  not  walk  again  for  three  years  ;  but  at  last, 
by  laying  aside  all  medicines  whatever,  Nature  gradually  and 
slowly  so  far  triumphed  over  the  skill  of  the  physician,  that,  at 
the  end  of  six  years  from  the  time  of  using  the  fatal  plaster,  she 
was  able  to  walk  in  the  street.  For  one  year  before  I  saw  her, 
she  had  been  able  to  take  short  walks  out  of  doors.  The  phy- 
sician was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respectable  in  Nantucket. 
The  lady  had  enjoyed  fair  health  all  her  life  before.  In  almost 
every  case  of  disturbance  about  the  spine,  a  towel,  or  piece  of 
cloth,  dipped  in  cold  water,  or  cold  salt  and  water,  or  even  warm 
water,  if  cold  is  rejected,  and  laid  on  at  bed-time,  and  fastened  up- 
on that  part  of  the  spine,  so  as  to  remain  there  all  night,  will,  in 
nearly  all  cases,  in  a  short  time  entirely  cure  the  disturbance 
about  the  spine,  and  that  without  occasioning  any  debility,  suffer- 
ing, or  prostration  whatever.  In  addition  to  this,  the  spine  should 
be  smartly  rubbed,  and  washed  with  cold  water,  every  night  and 


RHEUMATISM. 

Warmth  is  generally  recommended,  and  warm  applications,  m 
the  cure  of  rheumatism  ;  and  most  people  would  say  at  once, 
that  warmth  would  prevent  it, — and  this,  no  doubt,  is  to  a  certain 
extent  true.  But  it  is  best  prevented  by  keeping  up  an  equal 
and  vigorous  health.  Nothing  does  this  better  than  the  rules  I  have 
pointed  out,  and,  in  addition,  wash  the  body  all  over  with  cold  water 
every  day.  The  shower-bath,  plunging-bath,  and  sea-bathing, 
may  be  used  by  everybody  at  their  pleasure  ;  but  for  convenient, 
general,  constant,  and  universal  use,  I  think  the  sponge-bath  far 
the  best,  unless  we  except  sea-bathing  ;  and,  as  a  preventive  of 
rheumatism,  I  consider  the  sponge-bath  far  the  best, — this,  how- 
ever, will  depend  more  or  less  on  each  individual's  experience. 
In  the  cure  of  rheumatism,  after  it  is  actually  present,  I  know 
that  pouring  cold  water  upon  the  parts  affected  is  one  of  the  best 
remedies.  I  have  known  some  cases  of  old,  obstinate  rheuma- 
tism, where  the  patients  were  reduced  to  their  crutches,  and  be- 
come perfect  cripples,  to  be  completely  restored  to  health  by  rub- 
13* 


298  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

bing  the  parts  thoroughly,  and  pouring  cold  water  upon  them 
every  day. 

TREATMENT  OF  THE  FEET. 

I  cannot  leave  this  subject  without  adverting  to  the  proper 
management  of  the  feet.  It  is  almost  indispensable  to  health  and 
longevity  that  we  take  plenty  of  exercise.  One  of  the  very  best 
of  these  is  walking  out  of  doors  as  well  as  within.  But  if  our 
feet  are  !,»>„  in  good  order,  this  important  exercise  cannot  be 
taken,  nor  will  the  symmetry  of  the  body  be  perfectly  preserved, 
if  we  cannot  walk,  or  cannot  walk  well.  The  feet  are  mostly 
affected  by  corns  and  enlargement  of  the  joints,  &c.  One  of 
the  best  things  to  prevent  corns  and  enlargement  of  the  joints, 
provided  tl^e  boots  or  shoes  are  properly  fitted,  is  at  least,  once 
a  week,  to  put  the  feet  in  hot  water,  and  this  should  be  exces- 
sively hot,  as  much  so  as  can  be  borne.  I  usually  recommend  to 
my  patients  to  put  the  feet  in  hot  water  once  a  week,  keeping 
them  in  the  water  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes,  and  adding  hot 
water  every  few  minutes :  to  the  water  you  may  add  salt,  wood 
ashes,  sal-aeratus,  or  soda,  as  you  choose.  On  taking  the 
feet  from  the  water,  they  should  be  rubbed  perfectly  dry,  and 
scrape  off  the  thick  parts  of  the  skin  made  soft  by  the  hot  water. 
The  skin  should  be  made  as  thin  as  possible.  Most  persons  will 
find  that  this  will  keep  their  feet  in  good  order.  The  hot  foot- 
bath is  a  most  excellent  thing  for  the  general  health  ;  for  colds 
and  pain  anywhere,  it  is  excellent,  and  does  not  forbid  washing 
the  feet  in  cold  water  every  day. 

DIET. 

I  have  mentioned  to  you  that  the  reparation  of  the  body,  and 
supplying  the  waste  of  its  substance,  is  a  duty  that  devolves  upon 
the  stomach,  and  all  those  parts  engaged  in  the  process  of  diges- 
tion. It  is  of  great  importance  that  the  food  be  taken  at  regular 
intervals,  and  that  it  be  such  as  agrees  with  the  system.  On  the 
subject  of  diet,  what  kind  of  food  we  should  eat,  and  how  much, 
very  discrepant  rules  have  been  laid  down  by  authors  and  lec- 
turers. At  one  time  we  have  a  crusade  preached  against  all 
meat,  including  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl ;  at  other  times,  the  war  has 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  299 


raged  against  tea  and  coffee  ;  and  now  it  runs  against  every  de- 
scription of  stimulant,  from  pure  brandy  down  to  the  mildest  fa- 
mily home-brewed  beer.  On  these  subjects,  I  look  upon  it  as 
dangerous  to  run  entirely  against  the  experience  of  all  past 
generations,  and  especially  on  the  subject  of  our  eating.  Vio- 
lent and  sudden  changes  in  our  diet,  especially  if  engaged  in 
exhausting  occupations,  I  consider  as  very  dangerous.  Generally 
speaking,  I  believe  the  experience  of  every  nation,  for  cen- 
turies past,  on  the  subject  of  eating,  to  be  a  very  fair  guide  to 
each  nation. 

To  exemplify  what  I  mean,  and  to  exhibit  the  pernicious  effects 
of  sudden  changes  in  our  food,  I  will  mention  one  case.  A  few 
years  ago,  a  regular  war  was  set  up  in  Massachusetts  and  else- 
where, against  the  use  of  meat  as  an  article  of  food.  Every- 
thing in  the  shape  of  fish,  flesh,  or  fowl,  was  attempted  to  be  re- 
pudiated. Men  learned  in  medicine,  an,d  eloquent  lecturers,  stood 
forth  to  vindicate  the  exclusive  use  of  vegetables,  and  to  announce 
to  the  thunder-struck  people,  that  all  kinds  of  meat  were  in  their 
very  nature  deadly  poison,  and  the  cause  of  almost  all  our  dis- 
eases. Under  the  term  meaty  was  included  all  fish,  and  every 
species  of  shell  fish  ;  all  flesh  meat,  fresh  or  salted ;  all  fowls, 
and  all  game  ;  in  fact,  everything  that  had  ever  possessed  animal 
life.  Experience  of  a  thousand  years  was  at  once  cast  to  the 
moles  and  the  bats.  Rumor  carried  something  of  these  great  dis- 
coveries in  diet  to  Andover  Theological  Seminary.  The  students 
of  this  renowned  institution  summoned  to  their  halls  a  gentleman 
who  was  a  very  learned  physician,  to  enlighten  them  on  the  im- 
portant subject  of  diet.  Several  persons  have  described  to  me 
the  effect  of  these  eloquent  lectures,  and  something  of  the  doc- 
trines taught.  One  old  sea-captain  told  me  that  he  attended  all 
the  lectures.  The  number  he  represented  to  me  as  being  incre- 
dible, and  "  as  for  eating,"  said  the  old  man,  "  he  left  us,  as 
wholesome,  nothing  to  eat  but  the  paving-stones  upon  the  sea- 
shore." This  is  no  doubt  very  hyperbolical,  yet  it  is  certain  that 
the  bill  of  fare  was  greatly  abridged. 

Mr.  Farley,  the  very  worthy  keeper  of  the  students'  eating, 
room,  told  me,  that  at  the  conclusion  of  the  lectures  the  committee 
on  diet  had  a  meeting,  the  result  of  which  was  to  direct  him  to 


SOO  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

discontinue,  henceforth  and  forever,  from  their  table,  all  meat  of 
every  sort.  "  Why,"  said  Mr.  Farley, "  we  have  pork  and  beans  on 
Monday,  shall  I  not  continue  that  salutary  dish  ?"  "  No,"  said 
they, — "  nothing  but  the  simple  beans."  Mr.  Farley  at  once  told 
his  wife  he  should  dine  by  himself,  for  his  experience  of  fifty 
vears  and  upwards  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  flesh  as  an  article 
f  diet.  One  young  theological  student,  of  rather  herculean  pro- 
portions and  western  growth,  expressed  to  Mr.  F.  the  greatest  re- 
gret that  he  had  ever  tasted  of  a  mouthful  of  meat  in  his  life ; 
saying, — "  that  he  believed,  if  he  had  not  done  so,  he  might  have 
anticipated  a  tolerably  long  life  ;  but,"  added  he,  "  what  I  have 
done  was  from  ignorance,  and  never  will  I  taste  meat  again  while 
I  live."  The  vegetable  diet  commenced  eight  weeks  before  the 
end  of  the  term,  and  was  kept  up  in  its  greatest  rigor  for  those  eight 
weeks.  Such  was  the  disastrous  effects  upon  the  health  of  the 
students,  that  Mr.  Farley  told  me  he  believed  that  its  continuance 
four  weeks  longer  would  have  broken  up  the  school.  As  it  was, 
about  thirty  young  men  lost  their  healths ;  nearly  all  of  whom  be- 
came dyspeptic,  and  several  sunk  into  consumption.  The  herculean 
young  man  was  one  of  the  sufferers  :  his  head  and  nervous  system 
became  so  much  affected;  that  he  could  not  possibly  study.  After 
trying  a  change  of  air,  and  every  means  to  regain  his  health,  he 
found  it  impossible  to  continue  his  studies,  so  following  "  the  star 
of  empire,"  he  wended  his  way  west,  to  Michigan,  where  he  is 
now  a  useful  farmer.  The  school  reassembled  at  the  expiration 
of  four  weeks,  and  then  the  committee  on  diet  having  somewhat 
the  fear  of  vegetables  before  their  eyes,  ordered  more  meat  than 
had  ever  been  known  before.  Here  and  there  a  solitary  instance 
can  be  found  of  a  person  well  sustained  by  vegetable  diet  only ; 
but  in  general,  meat,  in  moderation,  is  everywhere  considered  a 
salutary  article  of  diet  by  those  able  to  procure  it.  The  amount 
of  food  required  to  be  eaten  by  adults,  must  always  be  determined 
by  the  waste  of  the  substance  of  the  body  when  in  health.  The 
amount  of  this  waste  depends  on  the  greater  or  less  degree  of 
exercisp  encl  iaoor.  Out-door  exercise  and  out-door  labor  causing 
more  waste  than  in- door  labor  and  exercise. 

The  appetite  of  a  person  in  health  and  regular  habits  is  a  very 
fair  criterion  of  the  amount  of  food  required  to  supply  the  waste 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  301 

of  the  substance  of  the  body.  This  amount  every  person 
should  eat,  and  no  more,  so  that  all  human  beings  will  vary,  more 
or  less,  in  the  relative  quantity  they  eat ;  and  the  same  individual 
will  differ  from  himself,  in  proportion  as  the  amount  of  his  labor 
and  exercise  differ.  In  general,  a  varied  and  simple  diet  is  the 
best,  consisting  of  pure,  wholesome  food.  No  rancid  meat  or 
butter,  no  spoiled  vegetables,  or  the  flour  of  bad  grain,  should  ever 
be  tasted.  One  of  the  great  secrets  of  the  health  and  longevity 
of  the  noble  families  of  England,  France,  Italy,  Germany,  and,  in 
general,  of  all  Europe,  is  owing  to  the  great  care  in  the  quality 
and  selection  of  the  articles  composing  their  food,  its  sufficiency, 
its  variety,  and  in  its  preparation  and  cookery.  There  is  no  lay- 
ing down  rules  of  diet  that  will  suit  every  one,  either  in  kind  or 
quantity.  I  recommend  indulging  in  every  variety  of  food  that 
we  find  is'  not  absolutely  pernicious.  For  kind,  be  guided  far 
more  by  experience  than  by  precept ;  and,  for  quantity,  be  go 
verned,  in  moderation,  by  the  requirements  of  a  well-regulated 
appetite ;  but  be  sure  that  all  the  food  you  eat  is  perfect  in  its 
kind.  Above  all  things,  avoid  taking  up  notions  or  crotchets  upon 
the  subject  of  diet;  should  you  do  this,  you  will  soon  find  the  tone 
of  the  stomach  impaired,  and  the  variety  of  food  you  could  other- 
wise eat  greatly  abridged.  In  general,  the  mass  of  mankind 
follow  a  correct  experience  on  the  subject  of  diet.  Never  indulge 
in  gluttony,  as  excesses  in  eating  are  often  very  dangerous.  I 
knew  a  young  officer  of  the  U.  S.  Army  enjoying  excellent 
health,  who  was  killed  by  an  excessive  supper. 

I  believe  nearly  all  cases  of  persons  found  dead  in  their  beds, 
who  have  retired  in  apparent  health,  may  be  traced  to  some  error 
in  diet.  I  will  leave  the  subject  to  the  judicious  experience  of 
every  one.  I  think  the  substitution  of  coffee,  in  lieu  of  milk,  for 
our  children,  to  be  very  pernicious  indeed.  No  scrofulous  per- 
son should  drink  much  coffee. 

EXERCISE. 

I  have  told  you  that  the  human  frame  is  a  machine.  Now,  this 
machine,  like  many  machines  of  human  invention,  suffers  greatly 
by  continued  repose.  Every  day,  when  in  health,  exercise  should 
be  taken  sufficiently  to  excite,  in  moderation,  every  part  of  the 


302  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

body.  For  this  purpose,  we  may  adopt  walking,  riding  both  oiv 
horseback  and  in  a  carriage,  nearly  every  species  of  rural  labor, 
and  many  kinds  of  in-door  labor,  pursued  in  moderation.  Danc- 
ing, both  for  males  and  females,  is  one  of  the  finest  exercises  of 
which  we  have  any  knowledge.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  known 
to  us,  and  one  of  the  best.  Taken  in  the  open  air,  it  is  better 
than  in-doors ;  but  either  in  or  out  of  doors,  when  accompanied 
by  the  harmony  of  music,  it  at  once  dissipates  the  tedium  of  life, 
excites,  in  high  activity,  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  exercises 
every  part  of  the  body,  and  vivifies  the  whole  nervous  system.  I 
do  not  speak  of  the  dissipation  of  dancing — far  from  it ;  I  only 
speak  of  it,  when  practised  in  moderation,  as  an  exercise.  For 
the  delicate,  the  sickly,  and  the  sedentary,  it  is  invaluable,  and 
may  be  practised  every  day,  and  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and, 
of  course,  in  all  weathers.  All  the  out-door  athletic  exercises 
practised  by  men  are  valuable  in  promoting  robust  health,  and 
may  always  be  taken,  when  circumstances  will  allow. 

ANIMAL  PLEASURES,  — PROPAGATION  OF 
THE  SPECIES. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  subject  upon  which  a  lecturer  can  speak 
that  is  more  delicate  than  this,  that  I  have  referred  to  as  the  third 
great  object  of  the  human  machine.  Every  man  knows  his  own 
history  and  his  own  peculiar  excitements.  All  that  I  will  say, 
is,  that  excessive  indulgence  in  secret  vices,  animal  passions,  and 
unbridled  lusts,  is  apt,  especially  if  indulged  in  when  young,  to 
destroy  the  nervous  system,  frequently  producing  affections  of  the 
spinal  marrow  and  brain,  and  early  insanity,  and  premature  death. 
At  its  best,  it  often  breaks  down  all  the  powers  of  the  system,  de- 
stroys the  voice,  and  induces  dyspepsia,  throat  disease,  and  pul- 
monary consumption.  Later  in  life,  these  excesses  produce  im- 
becility and  premature  old  age.  In  all  these  respects,  study  pu- 
rity— sin  not  against  your  own  body — indulge  in  the  refined  en- 
joyments of  marriage — and  from  these  sources  you  will  receive 
no  impediment  to  the  continuance  of  health  and  the  attainment  of 
long  life.  Extinguish  the  burnings  of  passion  in  the  sacred 
delights  of  marriage,  and  you  will  find  the  most  noble  and  ex- 
quisite  pleasure  in  the  society  of  your  wives  and  the  love  of  your 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  303 

children,  towards  whom  you  should  be  a  Providence,  Protector, 
Prophet,  and  Priest. 

SYMMETRY  OF  THE  INTERNAL  ORGANS  OF 
THE  BODY. 

Extreme  gratification  is  always  conferred  upon  me  when  I  have 
an  opportunity  of  addressing  a  body  of  intelligent  and  reflecting 
men, — men  of  mature  age,  who  can  take  up  the  subject  on  which 
I  lecture,  dispel  all  crudities  and  hyperboles,  and  treasure  up 
the  teachings,  noticing  if  their  application  is  pernicious  or  useful, 
and  thus,  by  observation  and  experiment,  determine  what  is  false 
and  what  is  true,  and  ever  after  retaining  and  diffusing  whatever 
is  true  and  important.  In  the  early  part  of  this  lecture,  I  spoke 
to  you  on  the  importance  of  preserving  the  external  form  of  the 
human  machine  in  perfect  symmetry,  keeping  the  head  and  nock, 
the  shoulders,  the  chest,  the  spine,  limbs,  &c.,  all  in  the  admi- 
rable perfection  of  their  natural  formation,  when  no  deformity 
has  been  introduced  by  art,  by  incorrect  habits,  &c.,  &c. 

I  now  come  to  speak  to  you  of  the  symmetry  of  the  internal 
organs  of  the  body.  I  mentioned  to  you,  that  symmetry  was  Ike 
very  key  of  health;  that  the  human  system  is  a  machine  put  together 
and  acting  upon  mechanical  principles  ;  that  each  part  has  its 
appropriate  bearings,  every  other  part  being  built  to  meet  the  situ- 
ation of  each  organ.  These  remarks  applying  to  the  external 
form  of  the  person,  also  apply  with  equally  great  force  to  the  in- 
ternal parts  of  the  body.  I  believe  that  all  diseases  proceed  from 
two  causes  only  :  one  is  loss  of  symmetry,  either  in  size,  position, 
function,  or  integrity;  the  other  is  from  poison.  The  human 
person  may  be  likened  to  a  box  or  trunk.  Now,  suppose  this 
trunk,  the  person,  to  be  laid  flat  upon  the  back,  we  should  then 
find  the  bottom  and  sides  mostly  solid,  whilst  the  top  or  covering 
of  the  trunk  would  be  solid  only  at  one  end,  across  the  chest 
whilst  the  lower  part  of  it  is  covered  with  elastic  belts.  Now  fil 
this  trunk  full,  as  it  is  laid  fiat  on  the  back,  and  set  it  up  on  end, 
we  shall  find  that  every  thing  inclines  to  settle  down  to  the  lower 
part,  and  press  against  the  elastic  belts  ;  now,  unless  these  belts 
are  extremely  firm,  they  will  become  relaxed  or  stretched,  and 
allow  the  different  parts  of  the  inside  of  the  body,  more  or  less, 


304  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

to  fall  do\vn  out  of  their  places.  On  examining  the  trunk  of  the 
body,  we  find  the  lungs,  the  heart,  with  the  blood-vessels,  air- 
pipes,  &c.,  besides  some  small  glands,  filling  up  the  whole  chest. 
These  parts  possess  considerable  weight.  The  chest  is  a  basket 
of  bones,  entirely  open  at  the  bottom,  or  its  only  floor  is  a  loose, 
fleshy,  moveable  curtain,  that  floats  up  and  down  between  the 
chest  and  abdomen.  At  the  top  of  the  abdomen,  towards  the  left 
side,  and  stowed  up  against  the  loose  floor  of  the  chest,  we  find  the 
stomach,  that,  when  full,  with  its  contents,  weighs  several  pounds. 
We  find,  also,  the  liver,  at  the  top  of  the 'right  side  of  the  abdo- 
men, a  solid,  heavy  mass  of  several  pounds  weight. 

Beneath  these,  we  have  the  large  bowel,  which,  with  its  con- 
tents,  is  very  heavy,  and  besides  these  the  caul,  and  the  small 
bowels.  All  these,  in  some  large  persons,  weigh  fifty  or  sixty 
pounds,  or  even  more.  Now  all  this  immense  weight,  checked 
only  by  slight  fastenings,  is  at  last  fully  supported  by  the  abdom- 
inal belts,  by  the  belts  that  cover  the  front  of  the  abdomen,  and 
either  take  their  origin  or  insertion  from  the  lower  edge  of  the 
breast- bone,  from  the  lower  edge  of  all  the  short  ribs,  from  the 
back-bone  in  the  small  of  the  back,  or  from  the  upper  edge,  all 
around  the  basket  of  the  hips.  (For  a  view  of  these  belts,  and 
their  situation,  see  plate  E.)  Whilst  in  perfect  health,  and  whole 
these  belts  keep  all  the  different  parts  of  the  inside  of  the  body 
fully  and  snugly  up  to  their  places  ;  but  when  broken  anywhere, 
very  promptly,  we  see  the  bowels  gushing  out,  and  dragging 
everything  inside  out  of  its  place;  and  if  any  way  considerable, 
the  person  can  neither  stand  or  walk.  This  is  exemplified  in  the 
case  of  ruptures.  I  once  knew  a  sturdy  blacksmith  who  had  an 
immense  rupture,  and  wore  a  truss.  While  the  truss  was  well 
adjusted  and  kept  the  bowels  in  their  place,  he  got  along  tolera- 
bly we'll ;  but  if  the  truss  moved  out  of  place,  great  quantities  of 
the  bowels  would  instantly  glide  out, — at  once  causing  loss  pf 
strength  and  faintness,  leaving  the  blacksmith  no  resource  but  to 
throw  himself  flat  on  his  back,  when  the  bowels  would  stop 
falling  down  ;  he  would  then  have  to  push  the  bowels  back  into 
place,  and  adjust  his  truss  so  as  to  keep  the  bowels  up,  when  he 
could  at  once  go  about  his  business.  Now,  from  a  multiplicity 
of  causes,  although  there  will  be  found  no  open  breach  through 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


305 


the  abdomen,  yet  the  belts  covering  it  become  stretched  or  relax- 
ed, and  do  not  keep  the  internal  parts  of  the  body  in  their  places ; 
and  in  this  way,  the  stowage  of  the  internal  parts  of  the  body, 
and  all  the  parts,  experience  jarring,  and  settling  downwards, 
producing  a  condition  I  shall  denominate 

FALLING  OF  THE  BOWELS. 
Plate  R. 


Now,  the  falling  of  the  bowels  occasions  a  vast  amount  of  sick- 
ness,  that,  when  I  speak  of  them,  will  be  mentioned  as  caused  by 
tailing  of  the  bowels,  whilst  the  falling  of  the  bowels  is,  itself, 
produced  by  relaxation,  or  stretching,  or  weakness  of  the  abdom- 
inal belts.  (See  plates  O,  P,  and  R,  and  notice  all  the  different 
organs  of  the  body  there.)  As  you  observe  them  in  their  places, 
you  will  observe  how  readily  their  forms  will  incline  them  to  fall 
downwards,  which,  if  they  do,  will  produce  some  or  all  of  the  fol- 
lowing diseases  of  the  frame,  depending  on  the  extent  of  the 


306  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

relaxation  of  the  belts,  and  falling  of  the  bowels ;  at  one  time 
producing  some  one  of  the  symptoms  in  only  a  slight  degree,  and 
at  other  times  causing  the  most  terrible  effects,  and  certain  death. 
I  will  now  mention  some  of  the  effects  produced  by  this  upon  the 
large  organs.  First,  the  effect  of  falling  of  the  bowels 

UPON  THE  LUNGS. 

By  looking  at  plates  D  and  C,  you  will  observe  that  the  lungs 
are  wedge-shaped.  Their  points,  or  smallest  portions,  are  highest 
up  under  the  collar-bones,  whilst  their  heaviest  and  largest  parts 
are  lowest,  and  rest  on  the  floor  of  the  chest,  and  greatly  incline 
to  drag  downwards.  It  is  entirely  indispensable  to  the  perfect 
health  of  the  lungs,  that  the  bowels  be  well  kept  up,  so  that  there 
shall  be  no  falling  away  of  the  floor  of  the  lungs.  The  effect  of 
the  falling  of  the  bowels  upon  the  lungs  is  to  cause  a  sense  of 
extreme  weakness  and  sinking  feeling  at  the  top  of  the  chest.  The 
breath  enters  the  lungs,  and  seems  to  be  lost — the  sufferer  not 
being  able  to  fill  up  the  top  of  the  chest;  and  thus,  as  I  said  in  my 
chapter  upon  the  causes  of  pulmonary  consumption,  if  any  part 
of  the  lungs  is  not  kept  well  expanded,  it  lays  the  foundation  for 
pulmonary  consumption,  so  that  falling  of  the  bowels  is  a  very 
frequent  cause  of  consumption ;  and  the  lungs  being  allowed  to 
drag  down,  engorgement  of  the  top  of  the  lungs,  or  a  secretion 
of  tuberculous  matter,  will  rapidly  take  place. 

BLEEDING  AT  THE  LUNGS. 

For  the  same  reason,  bleeding  at  the  lungs  very%  often  arises 
from  a  falling  of  the  bowels;  the  top  of  the  lungs  being  so 
dragged  down,  that  the  blood  does  not  circulate  well  through 
them.  The  sense  of  weakness  at  the  top  of  the  chest,  and  of  be- 
ing all  gone  there,  causes  the  person  to  stoop  very  much,  and  to 
bring  the  shoulders  forward.  I  never  attempt  to  cure  pulmonary 
consumption  without  using  means  to  have  the  bowels  well  brought 
up  to  their  places,  and  thus  have  the  floor  of  the  lungs  well 
supported.  A  great  many  consumptions  arise  from  falling  of  the 
bowels,  particularly  in  delicate  young  persons. 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  807 

WEAKNESS  AND  LOSS  OF  VOICE,  AND  DISEASE  OF 
THE  AIR-PIPES,  PRODUCED  BY  FALLING  OF  THE 
BOWELS. 

It  will  be  very  obvious  to  you,  that  if  the  lungs  are  not  well 
filled  with  air,  that  their  dragging  down  will  bear  heavily  and 
at  once  upon  the  small  air-pipes,  the  windpipes,  and  the  organs 
of  the  voice,  so  that  one  of  the  earliest  effects  of  falling  of  the 
bowels  is  to  produce  weakness,  and  even  loss  of  voice  ;  the  voice 
at  times  becoming  hoarse,  and  husky,  and  weak,  falling  to  a 
whisper.  Talking  or  reading  aloud  occasions  great  exhaustion, 
a  soreness  in  the  throat,  dryness  and  heat  in  the  windpipe. 
The  efforts  to  speak  greatly  strain  the  windpipe.  Public  speak- 
ers are,  in  this  way,  rapidly  driven  from  their  desks,  and  their 
usefulness  destroyed.  Many  of  these  broken-down  men,  I  have 
restored  to  usefulness  by  the  aid  of  few  medicines,  and  giv- 
ing perfect  abdominal  support,  so  that  the  lungs  should  be  well 
lifted  up,  in  order  that  no  dragging  down  of  the  windpipe,  or  vo- 
cal organs,  can  take  place.  Some  clergymen,  who  are  sagacious 
observers  of  themselves,  I  have  known  to  cure  all  weakness  of 
voice  i'n  themselves,  by  inventing  and  applying  support  to  the  ab- 
domen. To  permanently  cure  weakness  of  voice,  and  disease 
about  the  windpipe,  I  deem  it  indispensable  to  have  the  abdomen 
perfectly  supported. 

SHORT  BREATH  AND  WHEEZING  BREATHING 

May  be  said  to  be  an  universal  accompaniment — indeed,  they  are 
among  the  first  symptoms  or  indications  of  falling  of  the  bowels. 
Wheezing  breathing  in  men,  especially  after  the  middle  period 
of  life,  panting  upon  any  inconsiderable  exercise,  and  for  these 
reasons  great  difficulty  in  walking,  whilst  running  and  dancing 
are  nearly  impossible,  and  next  to  impossible  to  lift  a  heavy 
weight.  In  April,  1845, 1  was  consulted  at  New  Bedford,  Mass., 
by  a  man  who  was  a  resident  of  Westport,  Mass.  He  owned  and 
resided  upon  a  small  farm,  but  was  unable  to  do  anything  what- 
ever. His  lungs  were  very  much  affected,  bleeding  at  the  lungs, 
cough,  &c.  He  had  not  been  able  to  do  any  work  for  four  years, 


308  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

and  was  not  able  to  stoop  down  and  raise  up  a  four-pound  weight. 
He  was  in  consumption. 

His  was  an  aggravated  case  of  falling  of  the  bowels.  I  gave 
him  suitable  remedies  for  his  lungs,  and  an  abdominal  supporter. 
I  saw  him  in  July  following.  He  walked-  four  miles  on  a  warm 
afternoon,  to  see  me.  He  told  me  he  was  in  almost  perfect  health, 
and  could  lay  stone  wall  fifteen  hours  in  a  day.  In  October,  1846, 
he  informs  me,  by  letter,  that  he  continues  in  fair  health. 

PALPITATION  OF  THE  HEART, 

And  disturbance  of  its  functions,  are  very  often  produced  by  falling 
of  the  bowels,  even  stoppage  of  the  heart  and  fainting,  when  the 
person  by  falling,  or  being  laid  down,  the  heart  resumes  its  action. 
I  have  often  witnessed  apparent  heart-disease  cured  simply  by 
an  abdominal  supporter,  but  usually  medical  remedies  are  re- 
quired. 

SINKING  FEELING,  AND  ALL  GONE  AT  THE  PIT 
OF  THE  STOMACH. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  common  symptoms  of  falling  of  the 
bowels  ;  an  extreme  sense  of  exhaustion,  as  if  there  was  a  large 
empty  space  in  the  stomach,  that  nothing  could  fill.  The  food, 
upon  eating,  seems  to  pass  away  and  leave  the  same  hollow, 
empty  feeling.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  men  who  stand 
a  great  deal  at  a  work-bench.  I  was  consulted  in  April,  1844, 
at  Springfield,  Mass.,  by  a  tin-worker,  who  told  me  that  he  had 
suffered  this  distressed  feeling  about  the  pit  of  the  stomach  for 
six  years.  He  supposed  it  was  occasioned  by  standing  so  con- 
tinually at  his  work,  which  was  no  doubt  the  case.  I  gave  him 
his  remedies.  The  second  day  after,  his  wife  called  to  see  me, 
with  a  message  from  her  husband,  saying,  that  he  had  not  spent 
such  an  agreeable  day  for  six  years  as  the  first  day  that  he  had 
used  all  my  remedies.  All  the  functions  of  the  stomach  are 
more  or  less  impaired  by  falling  of  the  bowels ;  and  the  person 
feels  at  that  point  as  if  cut  in  two,  and  is  greatly  disposed  to 
stoop. 


LECTURE  TO  -GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  309 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  FALLING  OF  THE  BOWELS 
UPON  THE  LIVER. 

The  weight  of  the  liver  is  so  considerable,  that,  unless  the  ab- 
dominal belts  are  very  firm,  it  is  apt  to  drag  down,  more  or  less, 
out  of  its  place,  sometimes  so  as  to  obstruct  the  bile-ducts,  inclin- 
ing, more  or  less,  to  induce  obstruction  in  the  bile  and  jaundice. 
When  the  falling  of  the  bowels  is  excessive,  the  effect  upon  the 
liver  is,  at  times,  deplorable,  as  it  may  become  very  much  dislo- 
cated, and  even  torn,  so  as  to  produce  fatal  effects.  I  have  no 
doubt  but  that  inflammation  of  the  liver  is  very  often  produced  by 
its  not  being  well  supported.  To  exemplify  this,  I  will  give  one 
example.  A  few  years  ago,  a  gentleman  visited  Saratoga  Springs 
for  his  health.  He  had  a  diseased  liver.  He  recovered  his  health 
very  rapidly.  At  the  end  of  four  weeks,  proposing  to  return,  he 
started  for  home  on  a  hard-trotting  horse.  The  gentleman  rode 
eighteen  miles  the  first  afternoon,  and,  at  the  dusk  of  evening, 
stopped  at  a  tavern,  disposed  of  his  horse,  and  immediately  retired 
to  bed.  The  next  morning  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed.  His 
body  was  examined  by  Dr.  Steele,  of  Saratoga,  when  it  was  found 
that  his  liver  had  been  recently  healed  of  ulcers,  and  that  the  old 
and  new  portions  of  liver,  by  the  hard  trotting  of  the  horse  and 
consequent  jarring  and  falling  of  the  liver,  had  been  torn  apart, 
causing  a  considerable  loss  of  blood,  that  flowed  into  the  cavity  of 
the  abdomen,  and  produced  death.  Proper  support  would  have 
entirely  prevented  this. 

BREAKING  AWAY  OF  THE  BOWELS  THEMSELVES, 
BY  RELAXATION  OF  THE  ABDOMINAL  BELTS. 

I  have  repeatedly  witnessed  cases  where  the  large  bowel  has 
been  torn  out  of  its  place,  more  or  less,  from  lifting  heavy  weights, 
or  from  excesses  in  exercise,  or  accidents,  or  severe  straining  of 
the  bowels.  In  these  cases,  weakness  and  pain  are  apt  to  continue 
a  great  many  years.  I  was  consulted  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  by 
a  tall,  delicate  young  man,  who,  by  walking  many  miles  on  a 
very  hot  day,  had  caused  a  very  severe  dragging  down  of  the 
liver  and  breaking  away  of  the  bowel  at  its  great  turn  in  the 
light  side.  (See  the  situation  of  this  bowel  on  the  plate  C.)  He 


310  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

had  great  heat,  and  smarting,  and  weakness  in  the  side,  inabil- 
ity to  walk  far,  and  unable  to  perform  any  hard  labor.  I  wit- 
nessed another  case  where  this  bowel  was  broken  away  in  front, 
and  another  in  the  left  side,  causing  a  great  deal  of  pain,  weak- 
ness, and  debility.  After  continuing  a  year  or  two,  the  sensation 
is  that  of  hopeless  debility  in  the  affected  part.  One  case  I  wit- 
nessed where  the  pain  and  suffering  had  continued  for  thirty 
years.  All  these  cases  were  promptly  cured  by  a  few  suitable 
medicines  and  perfect  abdominal  support.  A  relaxation  of  the 
abdominal  belts  and  falling  of  the  bowels  will  often  produce  great 
weakness  and  debility  in  the  bowels  themselves.  This  leads,  in 
many  cases,  to  HABITUAL  COSTIVENESS. 

At  other  times,  the  very  opposite  state  of  the  bowels  will  be 
produced,  and  the  patient  will  suffer  greatly  from  a  chronic  di- 
arrhoea. Both  of  these  states  of  the  bowels,  so  opposite  to  each 
other,  it  is  well  known  often  arise  from  the  same  cause, — that  is, 
debility  and  want  of  tone  in  the  bowels,  which  is  produced  or 
greatly  aggravated  by  a  relaxation  of  the  abdominal  belts.  Suit- 
able medicines  and  abdominal  support  will  usually  effect  a  speedy 
cure. 

UMBILICAL  HERNIA, 

Or  rupture  at  the  navel,  I  have  repeatedly  cured,  by  the  use  of 
the  abdominal  supporter. 

PILES. 

This  disease,  which  gives  trouble,  disquietude,  and  suffering, 
producing  in  some  very  severe  illness,  I  believe  is  nearly  always 
caused  by  falling  of  the  bowels.  By  referring  to  plate  S,  you 
will  notice  that  the  large  bowel  is  tied  to  the  centre  of  the  back 
side  of  the  basket  of  tihe  hips,  just  as  it  becomes  strait  and 
passes  through  the  basket  of  the  hips  to  go  out  of  the  body. 

Now,  when  the  bowels  fall  down,  they  are  exceedingly  apt  to 
fall  upon  the  large  bowel,  where  it  is  tied  to  the  back-bone,  press- 
ing, more  or  less,  hard  against  the  bone,  and  thus  prevents  the 
return  of  the  blood  from  the  lower  portion  of  the  large  bowel. 

Piles  may  be  greatly  aggravated  by  the  condition  of  the  liver, 
by  scrofula,  or  by  a  humor  in  the  system  ;  but  I  believe  the  grand 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  311 

producing  cause  is  almost  always  a  falling  down  of  the  floating 
bowels  upon  the  strait  bowel,  after  it  is  tied  in  its  place  to  the 
bone,  as  it  is  about  to  become  strait,  &c.  ;  and  upon  this  condi- 
tion of  things  will  result  the  various  kinds  of  piles,  as  blind 
piles,  bleeding  piles,  external  piles,  &c.,  all  produced  by  the  same 
cause,  that  is,  the  bowel  is  so  obstructed  above,  that  the  blood 
which  enters  the  bowel  cannot  return,  and  hence  results  this  dis- 
ease. In  nearly  every  case,  this  is  cured  by  removing  cos- 
tiveness,  and  using  suitable  ointment.  But  for  radical  and  per- 
manent cure,  support  is  required  to  lift  the  bowels  up  to  their 
place. 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  curing  a  vast  many  cases  of  piles, 
and  do  not  recollect  to  have  ever  failed  doing  so,  where  the  pa- 
tient followed  my  directions.  By  tying  a  string  around  the  fin- 
ger,  you  will  notice  how  soon  the  end  of  the  finger  will  begin  to 
swell,  and  if  the  string  is  kept  on  any  length  of  time  blood  will 
ooze  out  from  under  the  nail ;  precisely  in  the  same  way  piles  are 
produced,  because  obstruction  prevents  the  return  of  the  blood. 

GRAVEL  PRODUCED  BY  FALLING  OF  THE  BOWELS. 

In  another  place  I  have  spoken  to  you  of  the  cause  of  gravel 
in  the  bladder,  as  occasioned  by  the  urine  being  long  retained 
in  it.  I  then  explained  to  you  the  situation  of  the  bladder, 
the  kidneys,  and  the  pipes  that  convey  the  water  from  the 
kidneys  to  the  bladder  —  (for  a  view  of  which,  see  plate  S.) 
Now,  when  the  bowels  fall  downwards,  they  are  exceedingly  apt 
to  fall  upon  the  pipes  that  convey  the  ^ater  from  the  kidneys  to 
the  bladder,  and  thus  obstruct  the  passage  of  water  from  the 
chamber  of  the  kidneys,  so  that  it  deposits  its  earths,  salts,  and 
acids  in  the  kidneys,  thus  producing  gravel  in  these  organs  in  a 
great  many  persons,  causing  a  great  deal  of  heat,  pain,  and  weak- 
ness in  the  small  of  back.  Sometimes  the  affection  will  be  con- 
fined to  one  kidney,  which  is  shown  by  pain  and  heat  on- one  side 
only.  At  times,  gravel  in  the  kidneys  is  not  only  produced,  but 
other  diseases  of  the  kidneys,  inflammation,  ulceration  of  the 
kidneys,  &c.  To  cure  these,  requires  suitable  medicines  and 
abdominal  support. 


S12  LECTUKE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

PAIN  AND  WEAKNESS  IN  THE  SMALL  OF  THE  BACK, 
WITH  THREATENED  DISEASE  OF  THE  SPINE. 

By  referring  to  the  plate  s,  you  will  see  that  the  abdominal  belts 
are  tied  to  the  back-bone  alone,  in  the  small  of  the  back,  ana 
that  where  the  back-bone  is  quite  weak  and  unsupported.  Now, 
when  the  abdominal  belts  become  relaxed,  and  the  bowels  sway 
down  considerably,  and  produce  severe  pressure  upon  the  spine 
of  the  back,  this  very  soon  renders  the  back  so  weak  and  pain- 
ful, that  much  difficulty  is  experienced  in  walking,  and  great 
weakness  is  felt  over  all  the  lower  parts  of  the  body,  so  that  in 
some  persons  the  water  will  pass  off  involuntarily  and  they  be- 
come perfectly  impotent.  All  this  is  relieved  by  a  suitable  sup- 
porter, and  by  such  medicines  as  give  strength  to  the  spine. 

PAINS  IN  THE  LIMBS  PRODUCED   BY  FALLING  OF 
THE  BOWELS. 

I  have  often  witnessed  great  pain  in  the  limbs  produced  by 
falling  of  the  bowels  upon  the  large  nerves  that  go  out  from 
the  basket  of  the  hips  to  the  lower  extremities. 

In  September,  1844,  at  Bristol,  Conn.,  I  was  consulted  by  one 
of  their  most  enterprising  men,  on  account  of  very  great  pain  he 
suffered  in  the  lower  limbs,  that  was  so  great  as  to  threaten  to  de- 
prive him  of  all  power  to  pursue  his  farming  occupations.  He 
was  quite  astonished  when  I  told  him  I  thought  it  proceeded  from 
a  falling  down  of  the  bowels,  and  that  I  thought  he  could  soon  be 
cured,  as  he  had  began  to  despair  of  all  relief.  Having  taken  a  great 
deal  of  medical  advice  and  medicines,  and  used  many  remedies 
without  the  least  benefit,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  relieving  this 
gentleman  in  one  wreek,  by  a  few  medicines  and  supporting  the 
bowels.  I  believe  nearly  or  quite  all  similar  cases  would  yield 
to  the  same  treatment. 

SWELLING  OF  THE  LOWER  EXTREMITIES. 

By  looking  at  plate  V,  you  will  have  a  view  of  the  large 
blood-vessels  that  go  down  out  of  the  basket  of  the  hips  to  the 
lower  extremities,  and  also  a  view  of  the  large  vessels  that  re- 
turn  from  the  lower  extremities  through  and  into  the  basket  of 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


313 


the  hips,  to  go  to  the  heart.  Now,  when  the  bowels  fall  down- 
wards,  they  are  very  apt  to  press  upon  these  large  blood-vessels, 
and  obstruct  the  return  of  the  blood,  causing  swelling  of  the  low- 
er extremities,  and  an  obstructed  circulation  of  blood  in  them, 
and  a  sensation  as  if  the  limbs  were  asleep.  At  times  so  intense 
is  this  feeling  as  to  become  very  distressing  indeed.  Even  cold- 
ness of  the  feet  and  legs  will  often  arise  from  this  cause.  Swell- 
ing  of  the  large  veins  of  the  legs  and  feet  is  often  produced  by 
falling  of  the  bowels,  and  cured  by  abdominal  support. 

Plate  V. 


Heart  and  Blood- Vessels. 


ABDOMINAL    SUPPORTER. 

Many  instruments  have  been  invented  and  used  to  support  the 
bowels.  We  will  recollect  that  the  object  of  a  supporter  is  to 
raise  up  the  bowels  to  their  place,  and  keep  them  there.  Some 
abdominal  supporters  are  objectionable,  because  they  press  flatly 
against  the  bowels,  and  do  not  lift  them  up  more  than  they  press 
14 


314  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

them  down,  and  thus  sometimes  aggravating  instead  of  relieving 
the  disease  for  which  they  are  employed.  Other  supporters  are 
objectionable  because  they  swaddle  up  the  hips,  and  prevent  free 
walking.  Others  are  so  formed  as  to  press  upon  the  spine  of  the 
back,  thus  occasioning  some  of  the  worst  cases  of  spine  disease 
I  have  ever  seen.  Others  are  made  to  be  stiff  and  rigid  without 
any  elasticity,  not  allowing  any  movement  of  the  bowels  after 
they  are  once  put  on.  Others,  again,  act  more  upon  one  side  of 
the  person  than  the  other,  having  a  spring  upon  one  side  and  a 
strap  upon  the  other,  and  in  this  way  preventing  an  equal  action. 
Others  are  most  inconveniently  cumbersome  and  weighty,  or  pro- 
duce far  too  much  heat.  Now,  all  these  objections  are  perfectly 
unnecessary  in  a  good  supporter.  The  instrument  I  employ  for 
supporting  the  bowels  is  made  of  steel  springs,  weighing  only  a 
few  ounces,  and  perfectly  elastic,  and  prepared  with  suitable  pads, 
so  as  perfectly  to  support  and  lift  up  the  bowels.  The  pads  at  the 
back  do  not  touch  the  spine  or  go  very  near  it,  nor  do  they  touch 
the  small  of  the- back,  but  rest  upon  the  short  ribs  above,  and  the 
hip-bones  below,  so  that  while  the  bowels  are  perfectly  supported 
and  kept  in  their  places,  the  spine  of  the  small  of  the  back  is 
completely  relieved  from  any  pressure.  The  springs  do  not  go 
round,  or  press  upon  the  hips,  but  rise  on  both  sides  above  them, 
so  that  no  obstruction  whatever  is  experienced  in  them  in  walk- 
ing, in  working,  in  dancing,  or  in  any  kind  of  exercise.  By  the 
elasticity  of  the  springs,  and  their  easy  but  effectual  pressure,  no 
chafing  or  suffering  is  produced  anywhere,  yet  the  bowels  and 
the  back  are  perfectly  supported,  whilst  the  instrument,  yield- 
ing to  every  movement  of  the  body,  seems  perfectly  alive,  and 
keeps  all  the  parts  in  symmetry.  After  being  worn  one  or  two 
days,  its  presence  gives  no  inconvenience  whatever,  and  is 
remembered  only  from  its  constant  support.  It  is  worn  with 
the  pleasure  of  a  well  fitted  glove.  I  scarcely  need  remark,  that 
the  supporter  never  need  be  worn  in  bed,  and  is  not  worn  next  to 
the  person,  but  over  some  part  of  the  clothing.  (See  plates  M 
and  L.) 

SLEEP  AND  BEDS. 
I  look  upon  sleep  as  one  of  the  appetites.     It  is  most  eminent- 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  315 

ly  connected  with  all  those  organs  that  repair  the  waste  and  ex- 
haustion of  the  body,  allowing  them  perfect  liberty,  to  exercise 
their  restorative"  functions,  whilst,  when  perfect,  it  lays  at  rest  all 
those  organs  that  when  in  action  exhaust  the  system,  or  waste  the 
substance  of  the  body.  Hence  the  limbs,  the  senses,  the  brain, 
are  all  at  rest  in  perfect  sleep  :  and  so  is  the  whole  nervous  system, 
except  those  parts  of  it  that  give  action  to  the  repairing  organs, 
which  never  sleep,  and  are  chiefly  the  lungs,  heart,  blood-vessels,1 
stomach,  bowels,  kidneys,  the  skin,  the  liver,  and  the  appendages 
of  these  different  parts.  Considering  sleep  as  an  appetite,  we 
find  that,  like  hunger,  it  comes  to  us,  when  in  health,  at  those 
times  that  the  waste  or  exhaustion  of  the  body  requires  it.  As 
the  waste  or  exhaustion  of  body  differs  in  every  individual,  so, 
like  the  food,  there  is  no  laying  down  any  rules  to  determine  the 
quantity  of  food  or  sleep  that  any  individual  requires ;  and  he 
must  be  governed  by  a  well-regulated  appetite. 

Laying  upon  soft  downy  beds  much  of  the  time,  is  very  apt  to 
produce  effeminacy  and  loss  of  strength.  As  a  general  principle 
our  beds  should  be  rather  hard  than  soft,  and  more  or  less  elastic, 
if  possible.  Straw,  hair  mattresses,  &c.,  make  excellent  beds 
for  the  warm  and  temperate  periods  of  the  year,  and  in  winter 
feather  beds  are  often  employed  to  advantage.  In  Italy  I  saw 
most  excellent  mattresses  for  beds,  that  were  made  by  preparing 
the  outer  covering,  or  husks,  or  shucks  of  the  ear  of  Indian  corn. 
These,  on  being  combed  or  split  into  fine  threads,  serve  to  form 
most  delightful  mattresses.  Too  much  clothing  should  never  be 
employed  in  bed,  yet  every  person  should  be  warm  and  comfort- 
able while  in  bed,  but  not  so  warm  as  to  be  kept  in  a  state  of 
perspiration.  The  time  for  sleep  is,  by  the  universal  consent  of 
all  nations,  allotted  to  the  hours  when  the  sun  is  below  the  horizon. 
In  very  hot  countries,  the  people  sleep  more  or  less  in  the  dajr- 
time.  The  loss  of  sleep,  and  the  dissipation  of  late  hours,  are 
usually  found  highly  pernicious.  Early  rising  is  remarked  to 
be  an  almost  universal  habit  of  old  people.  To  this  I  have  ne- 
ver met  with  but  one  exception.  This  gentleman  was  seventy- 
seven  years  old,  and  indulged  in  sleep  to  rather  a  late  hour  of  the 
morning. 


316  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

CONCLUSION. 

I  have  now  detained  you,  gentlemen,  as  long  as  your  patience  or 
my  time  will  permit.  I  could  introduce  other  subjects,  or  enlarge 
each  one  upon  which  we  have  spoken,  to  a  full  lecture,  and  so 
amplify  and  exemplify  the  subjects  as  to  swell  them  to  an  indefi- 
nite extent ;  but  I  forbear,  contenting  myself  with  throwing  out 
the  ideas,  and  leaving  to  your  experience  and  intelligence  the 
task  of  supplying  what  I  have  omitted.  I  again  repeat  to  you 
what  I  have  before  said,  that  few  die  of  old  age  until  after  one 
hundred  years,  and  many,  very  many,  have  lived  far  on  towards 
two  hundred  years.  All  may  live  to  reach  the  utmost  verge  of 
longevity,  provided  accidents  do  not  occur — diseases  are  obviated, 
and  premature  exhaustion  of  the  system  does  not  take  place  from 
our  own  war  upon  it.  In  order  to  attain  to  long  life,  we 
must  have  health  every  day.  Excesses  of  all  kinds  must  be 
avoided.  The  symmetry  of  the  body,  both  external  and  internal, 
must  be  preserved.  We  must  study  the  capability  of  each  part 
of  our  system,  and  over-work  or  exhaust  no  part.  In  this  coun- 
try, many  suffer  most  from  over-exertion,  not  allowing  their  sys- 
tems time  for  self-reparation.  Our  systems  can  bear  much,  and 
live  on,  but  there  is  a  limit  to  their  powers  of  endurance,  beyond 
which  they  cannot  pass.  The  amount  that  can  be  safely  ac- 
complished, differs  in  each,  yet  the  weak  often  endeavor  to.emulate 
the  strong,  and  crush  their  owrn  systems  by  their  excessive  labors. 
This  is  strikingly  exemplified  in  many  of  our  schools  of  learning. 
What  one  there  accomplishes  in  two  years  with  ease,  another, 
to  do  it  with  safety,  requires  four  years.  Yet  emulation,  or 
supposed  necessity,  prompts  him  to  finish  the  task  in  two  years. 
Now  the  midnight  oil  is  consumed  ;  now  the  taxed  brain  reels 
under  its  efforts ;  now  the  nervous  system  begins  to  falter  ; 
now,  the  organs  of  reparation,  faithful  friends  to  those  who  treat 
them  rightly,  lose  their  power  to  supply  the  waste  and  exhaus- 
tion of  the  system,  and  very  soon  the  brain,  the  lungs,  the  heart, 
the  stomach,  or  the  bowels,  one  or  all,  cease  their  wonted  healthy 
action,  until  the  human  frame,  like  a  noble  ship,  that  instead  of 
resisting  the  elements  and  making  them  subservient  to  her  pur- 
poses, yields  to  their  blows,  deviating  from  her  course,  and  iff 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  317 

driven  madly  and  rapidly  forward  to  destruction.  This  is  the  fate 
of  millions,  not  only  of  students  and  scholars,  but  those  of  every 
occupation.  Everywhere  persons  may  be  found,  who,  for  a  while, 
do  two  days'  work  in  one ;  but  in  a  short  period  the  machine 
breaks  down,  and  the  imprudent  person  becomes  an  invalid,  or  is 
cut  off  in  the  midst  of  his  days.  I  will  repeat  to  you,  tax  no  or- 
gan beyond  its  powers  ;  preserve  all,  and  life  will  roll  on,  in  a 
smooth,  unbroken  current,  until  a  century  is  marked  upon  the  dial 
of  our  years.  If  any  of  you  discredit  what  I  say  of  excesses  upon 
the  human  machine,  go  and  survey  all  the  operations  of  machin- 
ery of  human  invention,  and  ask  the  keepersTiow  long  will  last- 
a  piece  of  machinery  driven  beyond  its  powers?  And  again,  ask 
how  long  would  the  same  machine  endure,  when  only  required  to 
iio  a  reasonable  duty,  when  promptly  repaired  on  discovering  the 
si  ightest  defect,  and  always  judiciously  preserved  ?  The  answers 
will  fully  satisfy  you  that  what  I  have  said  of  the  human  machine 
is  correct.  Study,  as  you  value  life  and  health,  a  just  equilibrium 
between  rest  and  exercise,  between  repose  and  labor,  between 
reparation  and  exhaustion,  and  between  the  supplies  and  waste 
uf  the  system,  and  never  tax  any  organ  that  is  in  a  state  of  dis- 
order or  debility.  No  animal  can  endure  as  much  as  man.  The 
care  that  is  bestowed  upon  a  favorite  horse,  if  extended  to  our- 
selves, will  give  us  good  health. 

THE  EFFECT  OF  VICE  UPON  LONGEVITY. 

One  word  more,  and  I  will  conclude.-  Allow  me  to  speak  of  the 
effects  of  wickedness,  vice,  and  immorality  upon  longevity.  It  is  a 
very  interestingfact,  and  a  very  curious  one,  and  to  my  mind  a  very 
sirong  argument,  that  the  same  mind  that  dictated  those  precepts 
of  morality  which  we  find  enjoined  upon  us  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  was  also  the  framer  of  the  human  machine.  This 
curious  fact  is,  that  everything  laid  down  in  the  sacred  volumQs 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  as  vice,  is  most  strongly  and 
strikingly  opposed  to  longevity,  and  most  fully  justifies  the  ex- 
pression of  the  inspired  penman,  "that  the  wicked. shall  not 
live  out  half  their  days."  On  the  contrary,  all  the  virtues  en- 
joined and  recommended  in  those  sacred  books,  are  most  strik- 
ingly conducivt  to  long  life,  to  length  of  days,  to  longevity.  I 


318 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


speak  this  to  you,  gentlemen,  not  as  a  moral  preacher,  but  as  a 
physician,  as  an  observer  of  those  agents  which  destroy  or 
shorten  life,  or  which  promote  and  continue  it.  Now,  we  will 
take  those  three  great  purposes  for  which  the  human  body  was 
formed.  In  the  first  place,  the  mind,  in  order  to  its  full  develop- 
ment and  highest  attainment,  requires  unruffled  tranquillity ; 
his  will  prevent  its  destroying  the  frail  brain  by  which  it  acts. 


And  on  the  contrary,  those  of — 
Kindness, 
Trust, 
Peace, 
Love, 
Good  will, 
Generosity, 
Forgiveness, 
Hope, 
Reverence, 
Integrity, 
Confidence, 
Honesty, 
Compassion, 
'  Contentment, 
I  Patience, 
.  Cheerfulness. 

Now  let  any  person  reflect  upon  the  state  of  mind  produced  by 
any  of  these  vices,  the  excitement  of  the  brain,  and  the  tendency 
of  this  excitement  to  produce  apoplexy,  fever,  inflammations,  &c. 
How  many  lives  have  been  lost  by  sudden  fits  of  anger,  or  bursts 
of  passion.  How  often  the  heart  itself  has  been  burst  by  a  fit 
of  anger.  I  have  known  a  person  reduced  to  a  perfect  skeleton  by 
a  fit  of  remorse,  and  with  it  every  symptom  of  rapid  dissolution, 
and  the  same  person  restored  to  good  health  in  an  equally  shor* 
time,  upon  obtaining  forgiveness  for  the  crime  that  had  occasion- 
ed the  remorse.  Again,  we  have  seen  fear  turn  the  hair  per- 
fectly white  in  twelve  hours.  The  effects  of  these  different 
vices  or  passions,  are  to  break  up  fhe  human  machine,  and  sud- 
denly cut  off  life.  Even  profane  swearing  is  calculated  to  pro- 
duce an  undue  excitement  of  the  system.  So  that  all  these  too 


Notice  the  effects  of — 
Anger, 
Jealousy, 
Remorse, 
Hatred, 
Envy, 

Covetousness, 
Revenge, 
Despair, 
Profanity, 
Fraud, 
Fear, 
Theft, 
Cruelty, 

Grief. 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  319 

much  excite  or  depress  the  functions  of  the  brain,  and  thus  far 
remove  that  organ,  and  the  nervous  system,  from  that  repose  and 
tranquillity  necessary  to  health  and  longevity.  Run  the  eye  over 
the  list  of  virtues,  and  notice  how  beautifully  and  sweetly  they 
harmonize  with  all  the  functions  of  the  system.  They  produce 
perfect  peace  to  the  whole  human  machine. 

When  I  read  the  moral  law,  found  in  God's  Ho^  Word,  for 
Man's  guidance,  and  then  contemplate  the  laws  that  govern  the 
human  frame,  I  am  forced  to  exclaim  the  same  mind  dictated  them 
both ;  so  perfectly  congenial  are  they  to  each  other,  that  no  human 
being  can  break  God's  moral  laws  without  injuring  himself.  The 
keeping  of  those  laws  is  always  beneficial  to  the  human  system. 

Again,  let  us  notice  the  vices  which  concern  those  organs  that 
effect  the  reparation  of  the  body. 


We  find  them  to  be — 
Prodigality, 
Indolence, 
Gluttony, 
Drunkenness. 


Opposed  are — 


Economy, 

Industry, 

Temperance, 

Sobriety. 


I  have  repeatedly  had  occasion  to  remark  to  you,  the  effect  of 
these  vices  upon  health  and  longevity.  All  of  them  are  most 
fruitful  causes  of  early  death.  What  is  more  prolific  of  dis- 
ease, or  shortens  life  sooner,  than  gluttony,  drunkenness,  and 
excesses  ?  As  for  indolence,  it  produces  a  very  rust  of  all  the 
organs  of  the  system,  and  contributes  greatly  to  shorten  life. 
Again,  look  at  the  opposites  of  these,  temperance,  sobriety,  pru- 
dence, industry,  and  economy,  and  see  how  perfectly  they  are 
adapted  to  the  well-being  of  the  system,  and  how  indispensable 
they  are  to  long  life. 

Look  at  the  third  great  division  of  the  purposes  of  the  human 
frame. 


Notice  the  vices — 
Impurity, 
Fornication, 
Lust, 
Adultery. 


Opposed  to  these,  are — 
Purity, 
Restraint, 
Virtue, 
Chastity. 


The  sword  has  slain  its  thousands,  but  these  vices  have  slain 
their  millions.     Go  to  the  gallows,  to  the  state-prison,  to  the  mur- 


320  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY, 

dorer's  grave,  to  the  resting-place  of  the  suicide,  to  the  hospitals 
for  the  insane,  to  the  residence  of  the  outcast,  and  they  will  tell 
V'.m,  in  words  not  to  be  mistaken,  the  effect  of  these  vices.  The 
M.ses  engendered  by  them  are  among  the  most  terrible  the 
:iun  machine  suffers.  It  is  out  of  my  power  now  to  tell  you 
tho  number  of  deaths  annually  arising  from  these  vices.  But, 
taking  the  whole  habitable  globe,  the  number  is  absolutely  in- 
iible.  and  contributes  greatly  to  shorten  human  life.  On  the 
contrary,  see  how  peculiarly  friendly  to  the  human  machine  is 
chastity,  purity,  and  virtue.  No  triumph  can  be  greater  than 
that  of  the  resolute  man  over  his  passions.  And  this  triumph 
greatly  contributes  to  lengthen  his  days.  Let  me  also  say,  that, 
•neral,  all  our  vices  hang  together,  and  contribute  to  strength- 
en each  other,  and  whether  few  or  many,  they  are  always  at  war 
Vf-ith-tho  peace  and  health  of  the  human  machine.  All  of  them 
contribute  powerfully  to  shorten  human  life.  It  is  another 
curious  fact,  that  none  of  these  are  so  incorporated  with  the 
system  as  to  be  uncontrollable  or  out  of  our  power  to  prevent, 
and  cannot  be  said,  in  any  respect,  to  form  a  part  of  the  human 
machine  in  any  way  ;  they  being  entirely  under  the  control 
of  the  will,  and,  whenever  present,  exist  as  abuses,  none  of 
them  ever  being  committed  involuntarily,  we  must  always  con. 
sent  before  we"  do  them.  Again,  all  the  virtues  hang  together 
and  support  each  other.  Each  triumph  we  make  over  any  vice, 
powerfully  strengthens  our  virtues.  All  the  virtues  contribute 
to  the  well-being  of  the  human  machine,  and  give  a  mighty  pre- 
ponderance to  those  elements  that  strengthen  and  fortify  it,  con- 
tributing to  confer  upon  it  immunity  from  some  diseases,  and  as- 
sist to  bestow  upon  it  vast,  length  of  days,  even  the  days  designed 
in  its  original  formation,  which  I  believe  to  be  from  one  to  two 
hundred  years.  I  said  that  I  had  noticed  these  facts  in  relation 
to  virtue  and  vice  as  a  physician.  Allow  me  now  to  add.  that  I 
delight  in  them  as  a  Christian.  They  assist  much  to  strengthen 
my  belief,  that  when  that  change  comes  to  me,  and  will  come  to 
us  all,  my  eyes  will  then  be  opened  to  that,  other  state  of  ex- 
istence, whose  glories  and  grandeur  are  heightened  by  the  feeling 
that  there  can  be  no  change,  and  whose  great  endowments  are 
health,  purity,  and  immortality. 


LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  321 


CASE  OF  A  CURE  OF  PILES. 

In  July,  1843,  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  I  met  the  subject  of  this  case. 
He  was  afflicted  with  most  distressing  piles,  and  was  of  a  very 
scrofulous  habit.  I  then  soon  cured  his  piles  by  medical  treat- 
ment. He  was,  a  little  time  before,  forced  to  lay  for  weeks  upon 
his  back,  being  unable  to  walk,  stand  up,  or  do  anything  for  any 
length  of  time.  After  I  prescribed  for  him.  he  remained  well  un- 
til the  next  March,  when  his  disease  returned  upon  him  so  as 
to  greatly  impair  his  strength.  In  April.  1844.  I  gave  him  an 
abdominal  supporter,  which  soon  worked  a  radical  cure. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  John  B.  Wliiton  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Fitch. 

"  Weathersfield,  Dec.  11,  1844. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH  : 

"  Dear  sir, — In  reply  to  your  inquiries,  I  will  inform  you  that 
I  was  afflicted  with  most  distressing  piles  for  about  three  years. 
In  July,  1843,  I  met  you  at  Troy,  New-York.  I  was  at  that  time, 
and  frequently  before,  so  reduced  that  I  could  not  do  any  business, 
could  not  ride,  and  hardly  walk.  My  usefulness  was  entirely 
k  destroyed  ;  you  relieved  me  by  medicines. 

<;  In  March,  1844, 1  was  again  attacked,  and  suffered  very  much 
from  piles,  so  as  greatly  to  impair  my  general  health.  The  first 
of  April,  you  gave  me  an  abdominal  supporter,  which  in  a  short 
time  perfectly  cured  me.  I  have  now  been  well  ever  since.  I 
feel  most  gratefully  obliged  to  you,  and  cannot  but  most  confi- 
dently recommend  your  supporters  to  all  persons  who  may  be 
troubled  with  piles,  as,  in  my  opinion,  the  only  radical  mode  of 
cure.  "  JOHN  B.  WHITON." 

MANAGEMENT  OF  SCROFULA,  &c. 

Case  of  Kelita  B.  Townlcy. 

In  August,  1845,  I  visited  several  of  the  springs  in  Western 
Virginia,  and  among  others  the  celebrated  Red  Sulphur  Springs. 


322  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 


My  object  in  visiting  these  springs  was  to  observe  their  effect  upon 
the  consarrptive.  On  my  return,  I  stopped  at  Lynchburg,  Va.  I 
there  saw  the  subject  of  the.se  remarks,  one  of  the  most  distressed 
men  I  ever  saw.  He  was  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  "  Lynch- 
burg Virginian,"  (newspaper.)  He  had  been  sick  about  five  years, 
and  for  the  last  year  had  been  confined  to  his  bed  and  room  all 
the  time,  and  had  in  despair  left  off  taking  any  medicine.  He 
had  a  large  sore  upon  the  left  hip  and  another  upon  the  left  thigh. 
The  left  leg,  from  the  knee  downward,  embracing  the  whole  of 
the  left  foot,  toes,  &o.,  except  the  sole,  presented  the  appearance 
of  a  raw  blistered  surface,  and  felt  in  every  respect  as  if  it  had 
been  recently  blistered.  From  every  p'art  thus  affected,  constant- 
ly oozed  out  a  burning  watery  liquid,  that  produced  constant  heat 
in  the  parts,  with  great  smarting  and  burning,  giving  the  whole 
leg  the  sensation  of  suffering  from  a  terrible  burn.  I  saw  him 
early  in  September,  '45.  In  the  latter  part  of  September;  I  re- 
ceived  a  letter  from  him,  which  is  sufficiently  explicit  without 
any  farther  comments.  I  have  again  and  again  cured  cases  of 
running  scrofula  in  persons,  who,  after  trying  every  remedy  in  • 
their  reach,  and  suffering  for  years,  had  considered  themselves 
hopelessly  incurable.  I  should  say,  that  I  consider  scrofula  as 
comprising  in  my  opinion  scrofula  or  king's  evil,  and  all  skin  dis- 
eases whatsoever,  all  comprised  under  the  term  "a  humor,"  dif-* 
fering  because  located  on  different  parts,  and  requiring  different 
medicines,  but  originating  from  similar,  or  nearly  similar  causes. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  KeUta  B.  Townley  to  Dr.  S,  S.  Fitch. 

"  Lynchburg,  Va.,  11  mo.  (Nov.)  19,  1845. 

"  Respected  friend,: — Thy  letter  dated  'Portland,  Maine,  7th 

Nov.   1345,'    was  received  on  yesterday.     It  will,  no  doubt,  be 

tifying  to  thee  to  learn  that  I  have  left  my  bed  and  my  room. 

I  urn  now  going;  about;    however,  as  the  body   is  covered  with 

new  skin,  it  is  of  course  quite  sensitive,  consequently  the  action 

of  the  air,  &c.  causes  some  suffering.     There  is  still,  too  some 

of   thb    disease,    causing    occasionally^  some   irritation. 

leg;  which   was  principally  disordered  at  the  time   of  thy 

visit  to  me,  is  disposed,  since  1  have  commenced  walking  about, 


LECTURE- TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY.  323 


to  swell.  Inwardly  I  feel  better  than  I  have  felt  for  15  years. 
It  is  proper  to  say  that  I  have,  from  early  life,  heen  afflicted 
with  a  bronchial  disorder.  At  one  time  it  was.very  severe,  and 
it  may  be  that  it  had  a  hurtful  influence  over  my  lungs.  At 
this  time  the  bronchitis  is  much  improved,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that,  except  an  asthmatic  affection,  my  lungs  are  not  much 
disordered.  I  have  had,  and  perhaps  I  have  now,  a  good  consti- 
tution, not  in  any  organ  impaired  by  my  age,  which  is  43.  My 
habits  through  life  have  been  temperate,  and  if  I  may  be  permitted 
to  lay  aside  modesty,  virtuous.  However,  it  is  proper  to  remark 
that  my  occupations  through  life  have  been  sedentary,  and  that 
I  have  over-labored  both  mind  and  body. 

"  Unto  thee  I  am  indebted,  no  doubt,  for  my  present  improved 
condition  of  health.  What  I  ought  to  say  on  this  point  lan- 
guage fails  me.  Gratitude,  inexpressible  gratitude,  is  due  to 
thee  from  myself  and  my  family.  John  says  the  thing  was  pro 
vidential.  By-the-by,  I  must  inform  thee  that  when  thou  propos- 
edst  to  give  me  medicines,  I  felt  a  strong  opposition  to  taking  any. 
I  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  best  physicians  included  in  this 
part  of  the  state,  and  at  the  time  of  thy  visit  to  me,  my  disease 
WHS  upon  me  with  great  and  increasing  severity.  A  physician, 
in  whom  I  had  great  confidence,  said  to  me,  Take  no  more  medi- 
cine— for  his  opinion  was,  that  my  disease  was  not  under  the  control 
of  medicine. _  The  advice  of  this  doctor  was  that  I  should  visit 
the  springs.  Fortunately  for  me,  my  mind  as  well  as  my  body 
was  weak  when  thou  wast  here.  I  gave  myself  up  to  my  wife 
and  John,  and  yielded  to'  their  entreaties  as  to  taking  thy  medi- 
cines. If  this  letter  should  elicit  from  thee  additional  views  in 
regard  to  my  case,  please  to  communicate  them  to  me  ;  also,  if 
thou  think  any  additional  remedies  essential,  please  to  send  them. 
Thy  prescriptions  shall  be  strictly  attended  to.  Under  any  circum- 
stances, don't  fail  to  write  to  me  immediately  on  the  receipt  of 
this.  If  thou  hast  no  objection,  I  should  prefer  to  keep  up  a  cor- 
respondence  with  thee  several  months.  Thy  friend, 

"  KELITA  B.  TOWNLEY." 

November,  1846,  I  was  again  favored  with  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Townley,  which  speaks  for  itself : 


324  LECTURE  TO  GENTLEMEN  ONLY. 

"  Lyncbburg,  Va.,  llth  month  (Nov.)  4th,  1846. 
"  DR.  S.  S.  FITCH  : 

"  Respected  friend, — I  was  happy  to  receive  thy  letter  of  the 
28th  ultimo.  I  have  not  written  to  thee  for  upwards  of  ten 
months.  About  the  1st  of  the  current  year,  I  wrote  to  thee  two 
letters,  to  which  I  received  no  answers.  Presuming  that  thou 
wast  out  of  reach  of  my  letters,  I  thought  it  unnecessary  to  write 
to  thee  any  more  till  I  should  hear  from  thee. 

"  Under  the  administration  of  thy  prescription,  my  health  con- 
tinued to  improve  till  I  was  able,  about  ten  months  ago  to  resume 
business.  The  cure  was  truly  gratifying  and  astonishing  to  my- 
self,  my  family,  and  my  friends.  Some  time  during  the  summer, 
I  got  very  wet,  which  increased  a  bronchitis,  under  which  I  have 
been  laboring  for  25  years.  I  was  consequently  confined  about 
3  weeks.  With  this  exception,  I  have  been  regularly  engaged 
at  business  for  upwards  of  ten  months. 

"  However,  the  disease  eczyma  occasionally  makes  its  appear- 
ance in  a  mitigated  form.  At  present  my  whole  system  is  more 
or  less  under  the  influence  of  it ;  but  not  so  much  so  as  to  give 
me  much  uneasiness. 

"  For  several  months  I  did  not  take  any  medicine.  Recently  I 
have  commenced  drinking  the  hemp  tea.  I  have  an  ample  sup- 
ply of  thy  pills,  but  the  purple  drops  are  exhausted.  I  should 
like  very  much  to  get  some  more  of  the  drops. 

"  John,  the  servant,  is  still  with  me.  If  we  can  serve  thee  in 
any  way,  it  will  afford  us  pleasure. 

"  Thy  friend  respectfully, 

"  KELITA  B.  TOWNLEY." 


THE    END. 


RETURN 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


r&w*- 


FORM  NO.  DD  19 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELE 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


